


The Masks We Wear

by GuardianSoulBlade



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassination, Attempted Murder, Blackmail, Canon-Typical Violence, Court of Owls, Crime Fighting, Deception, Drugged Sex, Dubious Consent, Evil John Grayson, Evil Slade Wilson, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Gun Violence, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, John Grayson had an affair with Samantha Vanaver, John Grayson is Slade, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Murder, Robin is Slade's Apprentice, Robin is Slade's Apprentice longer than canon, Secret Relationship, Slade is an alias, Theft, forced apprenticeship, implied rape by fraud
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24268255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianSoulBlade/pseuds/GuardianSoulBlade
Summary: He remembers the loving father and husband he used to be, but now he’s nothing more than a criminal, just like they wanted him to be.  But he isn’t what they wanted, he was worse.  He would butcher them all if his son didn’t keep getting in the way.  John Grayson was many things, acrobat, Talon, but worst of all, the criminal mastermind known as Slade.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, John Grayson/Mary Grayson, John Grayson/Samantha Vanaver, Robin/Starfire
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. The Murder of Birds

**Author's Note:**

> Being coerced into an affair via blackmail could count as dub-con, although it's not graphic enough to warrant an M-rating. Drugs being involved also warrants the tags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cover art by InfinitysWraith on AO3 and FFN. Thank you so much for the fan art InfinitysWraith!

Slade scowled as he watched the Teen Titans on his monitor. There they were, once again fighting off a group of criminals that attempted to rob the Powers Hotel in Jump City. Criminals he’d hired to do the job, to test these teenage heroes.

“You’re going to help me, Dick, whether you like it or not. You’re in over your head and you don’t even know it. You _will_ join me and you will do as I say. Even under the guise of being my “apprentice”, I will protect you from the Court of Owls, and together, we’ll wipe them out. Now, what do I do about your “friends”? They’re a distraction, and you cannot afford to be distracted now.”

John Grayson steepled his hands, “If she were here, she’d understand, she’d _help_ me stop them, but then again, what could we do against the Court of Owls, we were helpless nobodies, they’re a cabal of rich and powerful criminals?”

John stared at Robin’s image on the screen. “As bad as I am, son. There are _worse_ things than me out there.”

The Court of Owls, he hated them, they had been the shadow haunting him all his life. First, they had chosen Dick as the Talon of the new millennium. They had planned to recruit him at a young age to train him.

John knew he had no choice; he had gone to them and begged on his knees for Dick’s life. He offered to join them in exchange for leaving Dick alone, they had accepted.

He’d spent years training and killing. At first, he hated it, then it became routine. Then he didn’t feel anything at all. He’d always been able to justify it in his head. The people he killed were strangers, they didn’t matter to him. 

John was doing it so Dick wouldn’t have to. He was doing it so they couldn’t put Mary in that situation either. He had to, he didn’t have a choice.

John thought that he could get away from them once he died, but even the peace of death was denied him.

He had been brought back and they’d forced him to keep killing. But his fate was much more than _just_ killing. The Grandmaster of the Court of Owls, Samantha Vanaver had taken a personal interest in him.

He had become her plaything. The Court would always drug him and take him to some swanky hotel, and he’d wake up in bed with her. He hated it, but it only happened during their shows in Gotham City. Mr. Haly would always make up some plausible excuses that Mary would believe.

“Johnny It may seem bad now, but trust me, you’ll learn to like it,” Samantha whispered seductively in his ear, in his drugged haze he could not consent, not that she cared that much about what he wanted.

With Mary gone he had no need to feel guilty, at least, that’s what Samantha Vanaver kept telling him.

How many lies had she fed him? That she had been in love with him for years as her little secret. No high society socialite would be caught with a Carny she claimed, but she had wanted a relationship with him.

They had met when he’d been single during a Gotham show. They’d gone out on a few dates, but he wasn’t being serious, but apparently, she had been.

“What would you do to hold your wife again? To feel the warmth of her skin, to taste her lips? Would you kill?” Samanta Vanaver asked him one night, mere months after his return from the grave, thanks to the Electrum tooth the Court had inserted into his mouth.

John gripped the bedsheets.

“It doesn’t matter, you’d never give her to me, you want me for yourself and nothing else. Whether it’s as your killer,” he kissed her, tasting the wine on her tongue, “or as your lover.”

“You are an intelligent man, Johnny; still, I was curious to ask you about it. You can start a new life with me; you still have your daughter. You’ll sit beside me on the Court. My partner. My love,” Samantha Vanaver rested her head on his chest.

John despised the gesture because it was what Mary would do, and Samantha Vanaver _wasn’t_ Mary Grayson.

“Rachel Grayson is a stranger to me, she’s _your_ daughter, but it amused you to give her my name. Perhaps as a way to remind me of why she exists.”

“You enjoyed it, admit it, Johnny. All it took was some…persuasion.”

John pulled her away from him. He rested against the pillow that was propped up by the headboard.

“Shut up, I had no say in that, and I have no say in what we’re doing now.”

“Yes, you know better than to disobey the Grandmaster, you live because I wish it so, and you will die if you start to bore me or if you get sloppy and miss your target.”

She lay on top of him, stroking his chest, looking at him with mocking adoration. John Grayson loathed her with his entire being.

“But I will admit that hate-sex with you is utterly fantastic! I wonder how it would be if you _loved_ me,” Samantha Vanaver mocked him. “You’d be slow, sweet, making it last as long as possible, as if all your emotions and passion could be summed up in a single action.”

John pushed her away, “How did you know?”

Samantha Vanaver was gloating, “I watched you and Mary on your wedding night, I had cameras installed in your trailer, did you think that I was _joking_ when I said I would always be watching you when you broke it off with me and ended up with my half-sister instead?”

She had stalked him, invaded his privacy, invaded his _home_ , where he was supposed to be safe. All over a rivalry with his wife that she didn’t even know about. Samantha had found out because she had the resources to look into her family history. Mary hadn’t given her side of the family much thought so she’d never looked into her ancestry.

“I hate you!” John snarled, he grabbed her by the throat with his powerful hands. He wanted nothing more than to crush her neck, to kill her and end his suffering.

“Choking me during lovemaking, that’s new for you!” Samantha continued to mock him.

“As much as I want to, your little Talons are just outside the door and will put a throwing knife through my skull should I try anything, so I can’t kill you.”

“Good boy, you understand our relationship, now let me finish.”

He let her go. She initiated relations, mounting him as he lay there, letting her do whatever she wanted. Samantha Vanaver sighed as she relaxed.

"Now go and kill for me Johnny, you're doing it for Dick, don't forget," Samantha Vanaver reminded him. This went on for eight years.

* * *

John gazed listlessly up at the ceiling. Another miserable night, another dead body. John forced himself to look at Samantha Vanaver as she collapsed from exhaustion and lay beside him.

“I’m putting you on ice, you are starting to bore me, and I think it’s time we recruited your replacement,” Samantha informed him.

John rolled away from her, draining the glass of wine on the nightstand.

“We had a deal; I kept up my part of the bargain!” John Grayson snarled. They wanted Dick, and after all he’d done for them, he wasn’t good enough.

“Now, now, don’t forget Rachel, she’s ignorant of all this, it’d be a shame if you lost both your son _and_ your daughter.”

Rachel Grayson, the results of his “affair” with Samantha Vanaver. Rachel had been conceived after Dick was born when he’d made a deal with Samantha Vanaver for Dick’s life.

John didn’t say a word to her. He dressed in his Talon uniform; he headed into the hallway, to the secret passage that led to the labyrinth, where the Court met in secret.

He made his way down to the floor below their seats.

He gazed up at the masked faces that would judge him for his “performance” as their personal assassin.

“You’ve gotten sloppy, Grayson, one of your assassinations caught Batman’s attention.”

“I did my job, your target is dead,” John told them coldly.

“You are not truly loyal to us, we think with your family history that following your Grandfather’s footsteps would be a great honor. Because of your failure, we’re going to put you on ice under Arkham Asylum.”

John forced himself to kneel in supplication.

“Great Court, I beseech you, let me show you what I am capable of!” John pleaded with them. How many years had he been their Talon? Since Dick was born? He hated them, what they made him into. He couldn’t escape them, not even in death, now they were going to pay. He’d been planning this for months, sacrificing rest in order to put his plan into motion.

“We will, John Grayson, just for our amusement,” one of the members jeered at him.

“Let me show you,” John held up a detonator and pushed the button, the concrete below the Court exploded, plunging the Court’s members into the labyrinth below.

The Court began to panic as he began killing them one by one. He gutted the men and decapitated the women.

He came upon a little girl; she was clutching a Teddy bear.

“Don’t worry, child, it will be quick,” he threw her off into the abyss as she died screaming.

William Cobb rushed at John and plunged the throwing knife into his right eye. John let out a scream of pain and rage and retaliated by slitting his Grandfather’s throat. He would survive but John felt elated, he’d hated him too.

Despite the pain in his eye he kept moving, he had many Court Members to kill and while many of them had fallen into the labyrinth itself, others had managed to escape, including Samantha Vanaver.

John hunted the Court for several hours, but he grew bored as their numbers dwindled. It was time to leave.

John knew he could incapacitate the Talons but cutting off their arms and he did just that. Six limbs ended up on the ground as he made his way up to the higher area that had an exit.

“Don’t get up, I’ll see myself out,” John told them. He’d made a little adjustment to the labyrinth, blowing up parts of it, so now the Court members trapped down there would be just a little more confused.

He put a bandage over his damaged right eye and wore a leather coat over his Talon uniform. He’d make them pay for taking that from him too. He’d have to get an eye patch to look presentable.

He left the building, he was getting out of Gotham City, he didn’t want Batman to find him. He didn’t want anyone to find him. He needed to disappear and start a new life somewhere else.

He caught a ride on a bus. He had enough money to pay for a ticket.

“Where are you headed?” the driver asked.

“Anywhere that’s not Gotham City,” John replied. "Where's the bus headed?"

“Jump City, CA. What’s your name?” the man asked.

“Slade,” he replied. It was a common name, but it was also the name of one of his targets, the name of the man he killed, a retired soldier. John saw on the news he was being buried with honors. He left behind a wife and kids. John almost felt sorry for them.

He’d gone to Jump City. It was far away enough that he could go about his business unnoticed. He could start to gather resources to take the Court head-on. It was a decent-sized city and there were plenty of ways to get money, especially through illegal means.

John smiled, he would find a way to gather the resources he needed, he would bring down the Court of Owls no matter what and no one would stand in his way.

But first things, first, he needed a job and one that would keep him under the radar.

He heard whispers about an old man named Professor Chang, heard he needed someone to do a job for him.

So Slade decided to offer the old man a nice deal, he’d steal something called Xenothium for him and in return, he’d create a suit and robotic minions for him. 

John Grayson made his way to the abandoned observatory and found Professor Chang.

“I heard you need a hand with something, want some help?” he asked in a friendly voice, his voice had become deeper, due to all the screaming from the torture he’d endured when they had resurrected him. It was deeper thanks to the Electrum and he didn’t really recognize the sound of his own voice and neither would Dick or anyone else, which suited him just fine.

“And who are you, Mister?” Professor Chang asked.

“Slade,” he answered. “You want Xenothium, I need someone to make me a suit and an army of robots. If I get you Xenothium, you’ll make me what I want?”

“Of course, Slade, I’m always looking for Xenothium. And this suit, do you have a blueprint?”

“Yes,” Slade handed him the blueprint, it was dark black, had plenty of body armor and the mask would be black and brown, accommodating the loss of his right eye. He would also have a special device that would activate a chemical reagent just in case someone stole the mask. He’d heard of Doctor Crane and decided to have a special compound made for him that would enable the person that breathed in the dust to see, hear, and feel him, even if he were absent. Professor Chang would have to prepare the mask for him.

Everything was coming together quite well. He also asked for a vast army of robots and minions and even one that looked like his suit, it would have a self-destruct button. As long as he got his employer the Xenothihium, Chang would make him whatever he wanted.

He headed to the place Professor Chang had specified and easily stole a container full of Xenothium. The stealth training he’d learned during his time with the Court of Owls made him undetectable. He returned with the case and Professor Chang had told him he would make his armored suit.

He had successfully completed another heist when he spotted a group of robbers running away. He was very grateful for the distraction; the last thing he wanted was for the Titans to chase him around in his Talon uniform. He needed better equipment than what those backward old birds used.

He heard a voice shout, “Titans, go!”

John felt like his heart had stopped. Wearing a uniform similar to what Mary had made for him, was his son. It could be no other. His acrobatics were proof of who he was, sure he wasn’t tossing out quadruple areal somersaults right and left, but he recognized the acrobatics that he had taught him since he was five years old.

They were fighting off bank robbers. The Titans called him “Robin”. John was fascinated, but he could only watch from a rooftop. He couldn’t go near him, how would he be able to explain the costume and the outfit and being alive?

“Starfire, stop him!” Robin called to the taller girl with orange skin.

John watched her with interest. Dick had always had a thing for redheads, so it didn’t surprise him that his son was friends with her. 

Starfire knocked the man off his feet, flying over him and making sure he stayed down.

Beast Boy, John noted, the green one had chased down a man transformed into a bear. 

Cyborg the robotic Titan had blasted another robber off his feet, “Booya!” the teen exclaimed in victory.

“Dude, just in time for lunch!” Beast Boy joined in.

“I’ll be right with you,” Raven told him as she piled the criminals together with her powers.

“Let’s get some lunch!” Robin suggested. The group turned them over to the police.

No, it would be better if he stayed away. He was creating a new life for himself, and having a family reunion was impossible, the person who should share that joy with them was no longer there. They deserved to be together as a family, and he did not have the resources to bring her back to life.

Then John’s heart sank. There would be no joyous reunion. He’d already crossed lines, killed too many people, even before he had created his “Slade” identity. But John _needed_ him, he needed Dick’s skills to take out the Court of Owls, he’d _make_ him understand, Dick _would_ help him.

It was his friends, they were distracting him. Distracting him from what he needed to do. 

John hatched a plan, he needed to test Dick’s skills, if he were strong enough, he’d be ready to join him and slaughter the Court of Owls, and for that, he needed some lackeys.

Cinderblock and the H.I.V.E. Academy, that would work, they would do nicely to get his attention.

He also needed to learn about his son’s new friends so he could exploit that relationship and when the time was right, he would tell his son everything. The nanoscopic probes would be used to keep him in line, eventually, he’d disable them, but not until the Court of Owls was wiped out, and who knew how long that would take.

It would also take time to have the fake Khronoton Detonator constructed and then he would finally be reunited with his son.

But for now, he’d watch and enjoy the show. He could use a diversion, so he didn’t have to think about anything, especially her, it was June 27th, her birthday, and if he let himself dwell on it, he would drown in grief.

But John couldn’t reveal their relationship, Dick would never understand, he most certainly wouldn’t join him in his crusade against the Court of Owls, not in a way that would matter, he’d go after them sure, but he wouldn’t wipe them out so they would never hurt anyone again, he’d just throw them in Blackgate where they had a high chance of getting out.

For the next several months Slade took odd jobs, mainly to be paid in cash. He avoided assassinating people, for now, he didn’t want to play his hand too early. Surveillance, theft, blackmail, such things were under the radar for the most part. The Titans couldn’t foil every robbery in the city.

It took several months but it was finally ready. Now he could put his plan into motion.

John stood with his hands behind his back, fully dressed in his uniform and mask. He was staring at the H.I.V.E. Academy for Extraordinary Young People video with interest. 

“Well Mister Slade?” the H.I.V.E. Academy headmistress asked him.

“Impressive, truly. However, robots and obstacle courses only prove so much. My plans demand operatives that can operate in the real world. If your students are going to serve me they’ll have to pass one final exam. Destroy the Teen Titans and then we’ll talk.”


	2. Alex Peabody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade sends Cinderblock to break Plasmus out of jail and gains a new ally in Alex Peabody. Christoph sends him a contract for Raptor, Mary Grayson's ex-boyfriend turned mercenary.

Slade merely waited alongside the Headmaster of H.I.V.E. Academy. It had been an entire day and so far, everything was going according to plan. He had often observed that the H.I.V.E. agents tended to fight among themselves during fights and off duty, while for the most part, the Titans didn't, they maintained their focus during battle.

They had managed to take over Titans Tower. Slade was curious how long they would be able to hold it, he suspected no more than a day.

Slade waited for what he wanted to hear, that his message had been received.

His hands clasped in a reverse arm fold, Slade waited patiently for the response he expected.

Then he heard the speaker crackle to life, "Cram it, I'm calling Slade."

John felt the thrill go up his spine as he heard his son's voice for the first time in eight years.

"Who is Slade?" Robin asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, Barf Brain," Gizmo mocked.

"I assure you such failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E. Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined. Strictly disciplined." The H.I.V.E. Headmistress said, slapping her fist into her palm.

"Actually, your agents served me quite well. I never expected them to succeed. They were merely messengers and the message has been received." Slade pushed a button to play the video.

He let the video repeat as his son's voice asked his "name".

John Grayson looked upon his son's face. He had gotten older. He'd changed his hairstyle. His hair was spiked now and slicked back with hair gel. The uniform he wore was similar to what his mother had made for him long ago in Gotham City, the only thing that had changed was that the colors on the R symbol were yellow instead of black. And the circle was black instead of yellow.

 _Still wearing his mother's costume I see,_ John thought. He'd heard the stories. Stories of his son fighting alongside Batman in Gotham City, apparently, they'd had a falling out and Robin had left him and moved away. He'd left his mentor months ago and had formed a team after an incident involving aliens. The city had been so grateful they'd built them a Tower and paid for them to live there in exchange for their constant protection.

Slade smiled, it was time to move onto another plan.

He'd found out something interesting, apparently, the Court of Owls had been dabbling in human experimentation, splicing their own DNA with Owls. They had been trying to see if they could splice their DNA when they found that augmenting a human with concrete was something that could be done, unfortunately for them, the human's intelligence diminished to the point that the creature was little more than dumb muscle, it could fight and follow orders but it was in no way as valuable to them as a Talon.

It suited the Court of Owls to dump the stupid creature in the middle of the desert to let it die. John had discovered it when it had mindlessly attacked him.

So, now that he had acquired his first ally of sorts, he needed to get the Titans' attention. He sent Cinderblock into the city a few times, making him somewhat of a regular occurrence for the Titans to fight.

His new minion had a mission: break into Jump City's jail and free Plasmus.

John watched Cinderblock leave and he tapped into the Jump City Jail's security cameras. He was going to enjoy the show.

He tapped into the security cameras in the jail and began watching as Cinderblock broke into the building.

"You know, Cinderblock, normally, the bad guys break out of jail," Beast Boy pointed out.

"And I can think of five good reasons why you don't want to break in," Robin said. He landed on one knee, rising to his feet. "One."

Starfire landed beside him, "Two."

"Three," Beast Boy said as he landed on his feet as a tiger and shapeshifted back into his human form.

Raven landed beside him, "Four."

"Five!" Cyborg finished as they all stood before the supervillain.

"No matter how you do the math, it all adds up to you going down. So are you going to come quietly…?" Robin said.

"Or is this gonna get loud?" Cyborg finished the question.

The five teenagers charged the concrete monster and began fighting.

Robin leaped up, executing a spin kick that sent Cinderblock staggering back.

Starfire let loose a stream of energy from her hands. John found it quite fascinating, it reminded him of the stories he'd heard about Superman. Dick had always admired him, even more than Batman.

Cyborg struck at the monster and Cinderblock blocked the blow with his giant hand.

Beast Boy transformed into a bird and flew around Cinderblock's head. Raven pulled up a slab of concrete and Cinderblock punched through it with his hand. She flew up away from him.

Cyborg and Robin charged in but Cinderblock knocked them aside.

Starfire flew in, fired off a pair of Starbolts, Cinderblock grabbed her and pulled her in close.

John noted she was smiling, her eyes glowed the eerie green color of the energy from her hands, "I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am stronger than I look!"

She kicked him so hard he staggered back.

Beast Boy flew in and changed into a T-rex, roaring loudly, he charged in, only to be smashed aside by Cinderblock.

 _If his intelligence matched his skills, he'd be very formidable. Unfortunately, for him, he's an idiot,_ John noted.

He fall right on top of Raven, only reverting back to his human form at the last second.

Raven looked grumpy and blew a loose strand of hair away from her face.

"Watch out for falling dinosaurs? I'm gonna leave you alone now," Beast Boy said running off.

_They're an interesting bunch, it won't be easy to get Dick isolated away from them. It's not like they'd believe me, or willingly help me out. Not after what I've done._

John watched as Robin grabbed Cinderblock from behind, trying to restrain him. The supervillain staggered around. The creature grabbed the metal support beam and yanked it off the wall.

"Thrashing makes me hold tighter!" Robin shouted.

Cinderblock tried to smash Robin's head with it, Robin jumped away and the villain missed, hitting himself in the head instead.

"Now there's an idea," Cyborg said, grabbing another support beam. The two began dueling each other. Exchanging blows, Cyborg pushed him back until Cinderblock batted him away, sending him sliding across the floor.

Cinderblock raised the metal support and watched as it melted into a pool of hot metal. Starfire laughed at him.

Cinderblock turned and ran down the hallway.

John watched as Robin helped Cyborg to his feet. Cyborg dusted himself off.

"Wanna give this guy the Sonic Boom?" Robin asked.

Cyborg transformed his hand into his arm cannon and smiled, "I've got the Sonic if you've got the Boom."

Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy gathered behind them.

"Yo, Rockhead!" Cyborg shouted.

Cinderblock turned to look back at them.

The two teens began running up the wall.

John realized what they were trying to do, they'd meet in the middle and Robin would throw a disc, and Cyborg would fire his cannon. The momentum of both would produce a spectacular explosion that would theoretically, knock the supervillain off his feet.

But he saw the boy's trip over each other, and the maneuver misfired. Apparently, this was something they had practiced before but when it came time to do it, it didn't work.

The other Titans dove out of the way and Raven shielded her eyes from a flash disc.

Cinderblock ran off, leaving them behind. He bashed holes through the entire cell block and the Titans rushed to get the prisoners contained.

 _You're too stubborn to admit your balance was off, Dick,_ John smiled.

Cinderblock approached the cell of Prisoner 385901 seeing the warning of _Absolute Silence!_ on the door. The supervillain kicked open the metal door and yanked the tank containing the villain away from the tubes connecting him to the prison. With surprising precision for something his size, Cinderblock made a hole in the concrete and hopped down into the sewer, taking the container holding the prisoner with him.

John turned off the monitor as Cyborg and Robin began arguing about who messed up their maneuver.

Resting his hand on his chin, he waited. Soon enough, Cinderblock walked into the spotlight and placed the container down on the ground.

"Cinderblock, I see your mission was a success. Good. We will proceed with Phase Two. Wake him," John gestured with his hand.

Cinderblock twisted the lid off the container and it opened with a hiss of steam.

Otto Von Furth's eyes opened in surprise and shock.

"I'm...awake? I should never be awake! I'm only human when I'm sleeping!" Otto Von Furth shouted in surprise.

"But for what I have in mind, your human form is useless," John leaned forward. "I need Plasmus."

The teen's body expanded and transformed into a sea of purple ooze and reformed itself into a screaming monster.

He sent the creature off to a chemical factory.

John continued to monitor the battle, it was entertaining. Still, with Cyborg gone it seemed too easy.

"Disappointing. With one Titan missing this is almost too easy. I was expecting more of a challenge. Cinerblock, begin Phase Three," Slade ordered.

The fight dragged on, the Titans did try several strategies but Plasmus kept outmaneuvering them until Cyborg showed up and he and Robin blasted Otto Von Furth back to sleep. Slade shut off the monitor, the show was over.

John frowned, "Apparently, that's not nearly enough to break them up, and Plasmus isn't nearly as reliable as I had hoped, still, it has your attention, doesn't it son?"

John rose to his feet as he heard a noise coming from near the entrance. He moved to discover a young black teen with brown eyes.

"So, who are you?" Slade asked.

"It doesn't really matter, I was just curious. You're the new guy, the one making waves in the criminal underground. Bought an army of robots off Professor Chang," the young teen said.

"So, are you offering a sale or a gift?" Slade asked.

"I was hoping you'd have a job offer for me," the teenager said.

"Interesting, impress me," Slade crossed his arms.

The young teenager held up a flip phone.

"What's your name, son?" Slade asked.

"Alex, Alex Peabody," Alex replied. "Let's just say I'm interested in building stuff and I'm not really liked by normal people."

"Call me Slade," John told him.

"I make weapons," Alex explained, "And not the types that the good masks and capes approve of."

"I see, so what are you going to do with this flip phone that will impress me?" Slade asked.

Alex held the phone and began rapidly pushing a series of buttons, John watched with interest.

The teenager held up the phone, _"Alert – self-destruct sequence initiated. – Please evacuate."_

John raised an eyebrow; that was impressive. He'd turned the phone into a bomb, in a matter of minutes.

A few minutes later, Alex showed him the phone. _"Alert – self-destruct sequence terminated."_

Slade clapped his hands, "You do have talent so I'll hire you. Build my robots; make me custom weapons, that will be your job."

"I heard you're looking for an apprentice, someone to follow in your footsteps," Alex said.

Slade pointed at him, "Don't worry about it, you're not qualified for that. As you well know one of the keys to my success is a clear and consistent understanding of my own limitations. So often people overestimate themselves, misapply their gifts. Wisdom is learning the boundaries of one's designated lane."

John led Alex over to a table. "Do you think you could modify the robot double of me? Give it custom programming?"

"Of course," Alex replied.

"Program the robot to always catch Robin if he falls," Slade told him. "He's the one I've chosen to follow in my footsteps. I can't have him dying on me."

_He is my only son and he has to carry on my name. I still haven't perfected the Electrum formula that brought me back to life. I heard rumors about a Doctor Leviticus, she's the one that made their Electrum and perfected it. I need her to make me more, not just for Dick, but for…her._

Alex looked at Slade, "You _do_ know how straight-laced he is. He only sees people like us in black and white."

"Of course, his father raised him that way," Slade said. "Raised him _too_ well, honestly."

"Yeah, Batman has to be his father, right?" Alex asked. "Heard the guy's morality is inflexible."

"Indeed it is," Slade told him. He let the boy assume Batman was his biological father, after all, if you didn't know who he really was, Batman and Robin being biologically related weren't too far of a stretch.

But in truth, his own morality had been inflexible, until the Court of Owls had broken him of that notion. Let Alex think what he wanted, it was better if he didn't suspect a thing.

"Do me a favor, Peabody, find me some mercenary jobs, I won't take everything, but I would prefer if my targets are certain wealthy members of society."

"You got a thing against high society?" Alex asked.

"Not all of them, many rich people pay me good money to do their dirty work for them. It pays well and my clients are always satisfied with my job. I just have to deal with a certain group that has made me their enemy. If I get paid to kill them, even better."

"A guy named Christoph says he has a job for you. A contract on a man named Raptor, they call him vigilante Bernie Sanders. Sound interesting to you?" Alex Peabody asked.

"Oh, yes, I have a very…personal interest in this one," Slade told him.

_Well Mary, you can't protect your ex-boyfriend from me anymore. You always pitied the man. He always made me uncomfortable, but he's been stalking Dick since you died and I've never liked him anyway. It also seems like you got yourself a nice cozy job working for the Court as a freelancer. That's your funeral…Richard._

_I could ask you to team up with me, for_ her _sake, but you betray everyone you work with. I value loyalty above all else, and she was far too kind to you. Mary pitied you, but you couldn't let her go, not even when she married me. You always disturbed me. Now I'm not afraid of you._

Slade walked out of his secret lair. "I'm looking forward to catching up with you, Richard. We have so much to talk about, especially _her_. You always wanted to _take_ my place as his father. You loved Mary _far_ too much, but it's time I showed you _why_ she chose me over _you_. Getting paid for it makes it even better. She'd be disappointed that I'm going to kill you, but she isn't here to stop me. You're going to die because you couldn't save her, and you were never the protector you wanted to be. Protecting my wife and my son is _my_ job, and it's time we settled things."

Slade slapped his fist into his palm, "She gave you your name and origin story, but I'm going to _end_ your pitiable existence. She said you could start over, and I'm going to _make_ you wish you _had_."


	3. A Raptor and a Bluebird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Grayson confronts Raptor as Slade and Raptor recognizes him. John spends time with his daughter Rachel and prepares to show himself to the Teen Titans.

**A Raptor and a Bluebird**

Slade dressed in his suit, it was made of black polymerized Titanium and Promethium shoulder plates. His gloves were also made of Promethium for the metal fingertips, his boots were made of high-quality steel. His mask, also made of Promethium was black and brown, it split his face down the middle, his left eye was the only notable feature besides the vertical air vents to breathe.

His body was covered in Promethium armor plating, his shoulders, and his stomach was protected by the armor as well. The parts that weren't covered in armor were covered in black polymerized titanium cloth.

Slade was intimidating to look at. He had been working on a new prototype for a suit made out of Nth metal, the Ikon suit but it had been stolen by someone, and he suspected it was his wife's ex-boyfriend Richard.

This adventure would be enjoyable on multiple fronts.

Slade and Alex stood before Christoph, awaiting the information about Raptor.

"John Doe, AKA the Raptor. Master thief. Anarchist/socialist. A Gypsy Bernie Sanders," Christoph held up the photo.

It was him, all right. His wife's ex-boyfriend. The young teenager Marie Lloyd had taken pity on and had stolen the medicine to cure his leprosy. Long after Marie Lloyd broke up with Raptor and had changed her name to Mary and married him, Raptor continued to follow them around, watching her from the shadows, promising to protect her.

Raptor's eyes had been his most memorable feature. John had found them creepy and noted how he reminded John of a bird of prey. Raptor had been considerate enough to stay out of the way and not interfere with Mary's life, but John had never been comfortable around him. It's not like they were friends or drinking buddies.

"So the client's willing to pay you $800,000 for his head," Christoph explained. "Sebastian Clark wants him dead because he stole money from him and his associates."

"Did he pay in advance?" Slade asked.

"No, he wants the Raptor's head first," Christoph said.

"I see," Slade observed. "Where is he?"

"Steel City," Christoph showed him a map.

Slade tracked him down and found Raptor in an abandoned warehouse. Raptor had finished breaking into a wealthy philanthropist's house and he'd returned to his hiding place. Raptor had been on the run for at least a day.

"A childhood working hard labor in traveling shows. Drunk father, superstitious whack-job for a mother, and this is what you get – a junk-yard supervillain wannabe with a Robin-Hood complex. At least, that's the story you're peddling – Raptor," Slade said, walking towards him.

Raptor held his hands out in an open gesture. "Impressive. A full day's headstart and you still beat me here. I believe one man can change the world. I believe I _am_ that man. Tell me, Slade – what do you believe-?"

"I believe in _Smith and Weston_ ," John told him. "I've come for your head, Raptor."

Raptor was a handsome, good-looking Romani man with black hair dark brown skin and golden eyes. His hair was cut short and he was a well-built man in his mid-thirties. His leprosy-ravaged hand was covered by a metal custom-made glove with claws and other built-in gadgets.

Slade watched Raptor leap at him and grab him around his waist, trying to hit him with a backhanded punch.

Slade easily slammed his elbow into the side of his head.

Raptor's right hand clawed at his suit, using a custom glove fitted with razor-sharp claws.

"YEEAAARGH!" Slade screamed in pain. Raptor was going to pay for that.

Slade grabbed his quarry by the neck, so many ways he could kill the ghost that had followed him around because he'd followed his wife Mary, all out of some misguided need to "protect" her, and he'd failed spectacularly.

Slade ducked to avoid a strike from Raptor, tear gas sprayed out of the glove.

"As I read you, Suyolak reads me, and finds the most perfect cure for what ails you—" Raptor said.

Slade smiled, his mask filtered out tear gas. Too bad for Raptor.

"Our Romani wizard isn't going to save you," Slade taunted.

"I am impressed, Raptor you stole my suit, not an easy thing to do," Slade told him.

Raptor slammed his fist into Slade's masked face.

Slade staggered back, somersaulted to regain his balance and executed a wheel kick, Raptor stumbled backward.

"What's the opposite of overwhelmed because that's what I'm feeling right now?" Slade asked, taunting him.

Slade slammed his fist into Raptor's face, sending the Romani thief sprawling back onto the ground. His orange bird-shaped mask hid the shock in his eyes.

Slade approached him, letting his slow steps speak for themselves. Death was coming and he wasn't going to stop.

 _"_ _He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young man on the flying trapeze. His movements were graceful, all the girls he could please…_ " Slade sang the song in a deep baritone voice.

"Why would you sing _that_ song?" Raptor asked in shock.

"I'm just jogging your memory, Raptor. It was _her_ theme song, remember?" Slade asked.

Raptor managed to stay on his feet. He charged Slade, Slade easily threw him away and Raptor managed to land on his feet. Slade sprinted up to him, slamming his fist into Raptor's gut, unleashing an enraged scream.

Raptor threw two punches, but Slade avoided them, catching Raptor's wrist and twisting his arm around his back, effortlessly breaking his arm. Any other person would have screamed from the pain, but Raptor's leprosy had damaged his nerves and he couldn't feel pain.

Slade threw him over the stair railing. Slade saw Raptor land on his feet. He leaped after him.

Slade landed on the stairway. "You're a sad, pathetic man always chasing shadows. You couldn't keep your promise to her so you incorporated the scraps _she_ gave you to create an identity for yourself," Slade said, his voice was cold as space.

"You'd never settle for the bugs and the worms. You always go for the big prey, like a Raptor. She _gave_ you your name like she gave my son _his_. Or did you think I _wouldn't_ notice you following him around?" Slade slammed his fist into Raptor's stomach again.

Slade watched as Raptor flew forward, grabbing the railing, trying to steady himself. Slade smashed his knee into the man's stomach, knocking him back against the other side of the railing.

Slade saw the man hop up onto the rail and try to leap away and evade him.

_Not today, Richard, we're going to settle this._

Slade kicked him back onto the railing, sending Raptor sprawling onto his back. Slade placed his foot on the man's chest. Slade threw him down the stairs until Raptor's body slammed against the wall.

"It's you…it's _you_ , isn't it? John Grayson," Raptor wheezed.

"Yes," Slade replied, crossing his arms. "You should feel _honored_. I took this job because it was _you_. Contrary to what you think, I'm quite pleased that Batman took Dick in after we died. You were planning to take him in, raise him like he was _your_ son, just like you'd always hoped he'd be. The only miscalculation you had is that _Marie Lloyd_ wasn't there. Yes, I know my wife changed her name when she married me. It made it easier to hide from the police; after all, her crime spree in Paris was because of _you_."

Raptor lurched forward and tried to attack but he fell to his knees.

"The suit, what's wrong with my suit?" Raptor gasped.

" _My_ suit. You're wearing high-powered lithium-ion fuel cells inside a radioactive chamber. My Ikon suit is powered by kinetic energy, like a wristwatch and only my fast reflexes can generate enough power to run it."

Slade smiled, "Your jury-rigged fuel cells are overheating – melting through and shutting down the Ikon system, leaving you unprotected and wrapped in radioactive clothing."

Slade slammed his staff into the side of Raptor's head as he tried to attack him.

"You're bluffing!" Raptor screamed.

"I suggest you strip and run," Slade warned him. "Or I could take it off your corpse. I'm not nearly as _generous_ as my wife was."

Slade grabbed him by his shirt, "You were _always_ reckless, Raptor, you would have gotten Dick _killed_ by some criminal you pissed off. My son would be _dead_ in your care."

"He's only the cheap imitation of a rich hypocrite, the type of person your wife hated," Raptor coughed up blood.

Slade let out a chuckle.

"Well, my darling wife isn't here to complain about who got custody of our son," Slade struck Raptor across the face. "Or _save_ your life either. Mary would have _begged_ me for your life, and out of _love_ for her, I would have spared you, but she's not here, and I'm being paid to kill you, so I get the pleasure of putting my rival in the ground for money."

Slade loomed over his rival, "Terrific, I can actually _smell_ your fear."

Raptor raised his hands in surrender, "I'll pay you off, how much was it?"

"A lot more than you could afford," Slade smirked. "Humor me, throw out some numbers."

$500,000," Raptor began, "I'll give you half a million!"

"Oh, that is decent, but not nearly enough to save you from me, my employer gave me more than that," Slade pulled out his gun, pointing it at Raptor's head.

"$900,000 that's what I managed to steal!" Raptor pleaded.

"I know you're working for the Court, why should I spare you?" Slade asked.

"I'll work for you, we could team up, you and I!" Raptor shouted.

" _Now_ you have my attention," Slade said. "Give me more information and I might just accept your money and let you live."

"That man who hired you, he's a member of the Court of Owls, that Sebastian Clark, he's fighting with them after Samantha Vanaver usurped him years ago," Raptor explained.

"How lucky you are that he's on my list of people I need to kill, also consider yourself lucky that he only paid me $800,000 to kill you, that extra $100,000 just saved your sorry excuse for a life, Richard," Slade let him go.

"Now I'd like my suit back," Slade told him.

Raptor took the suit off and laid it on the ground.

"I'm grateful you're so corporative, but just to remind you to stay away from my boy, I'll give you this for free," Slade shot him through the kneecap.

Slade slammed the butt of his gun into the side of Raptor's head, knocking him unconscious. He was going to make good use of him, and it would be a very one-sided relationship. He'd make a spectacular distraction for the Titans. Slade would let him steal the Court's money and he knew the man would do as he was told, out of the twisted love he had for Mary Grayson, the man would do anything if Raptor believed it was what she wanted.

He also decided to do a little test on Raptor, after bandaging his wounds, Slade injected him with Nanoscopic probes to see if they would work.

Nothing like having betrayal insurance for a man that was known for betraying others.

Raptor regained consciousness surprised, he couldn't feel pain because leprosy had destroyed his nerves, but he knew something was wrong with him when he saw his skin glowing like a burning candle.

"Just so we're clear, Richard. You double-cross me; I will kill you with a push of the button. I've never liked you, but Mary would be disappointed if I finished you off, so just this once, I'm letting you live, but should you disobey even the smallest request, I will send you off to have a nice chat with Death the Endless, and she'll be the _only_ one who feels sorry for you! Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Raptor crossed his arms, glancing at the controller.

Slade put him in handcuffs and locked him in the cargo hold of the airplane.

Slade tracked down his client, Sebastian Clark. The elderly man had short hair and a nicely trimmed white beard. He was dressed in a nice suit and tie. He was holding a white owl mask in his hand.

"Did you kill the Raptor, Slade?" Sebastian Clark asked.

"Not exactly, but you won't live long enough to complain about it," Slade pulled out his gun and shot Sebastian Clark.

"I paid you, we had a deal!" Sebastian gasped.

"You wouldn't pay until after I finished my job. My target paid me more, lucky for him, but your kind always reneges on their deals. The Court never keeps its word. I know that from _personal_ experience," Slade removed his mask.

"You, it's _you_!" Sebastian was stunned to see him. He'd been played.

"Don't look so surprised, I wasn't expecting _you_ to be my client, but since I found out it was you, you're on my list and you have to die."

Slade squatted down beside the former Grandmaster of the Court of Owls.

"I'm a violent man. I've taken on a life that requires it. I hurt people. I kill people. And each time I do, in that moment, another part of me dies along with them."

Slade glanced at the dying man. "You'll never win; you can't beat all of us."

"On the contrary, I'm going to _win_ this war. The Court of Owls will lose, with you and your shortsighted brethren watching safely from a distant hill. Why? Because as _bad_ as you think _I_ am, as far as you think I'm willing to go to protect that which I hold most dear—you can't _fathom_ how deep that well of mine truly _goes_."

Slade pointed the gun at him, "Don't worry, Sebastian Clark, the next shot will kill you."

Slade fired the gun, shooting the former Grandmaster of the Court of Owls in the heart. Thunder rang out as the blood oozed out onto the pavement. Slade walked away, grabbing the suitcase full of cash. His job was done and it was time to head back to Jump City.

* * *

John Grayson had arrived in Jump City, heading to his secret lair; he changed out of his body armor and into civilian clothes.

Rachel Grayson stood outside of Murakami High School waiting for the bus to take her back to her family's mansion. Another day of being friendless at school.

She let the bus take her home and drop her off. Her mother was gone to another board meeting so she finished her homework. Rachel smiled to herself and headed out to the train yard.

John Grayson watched as his illegitimate daughter finished her homework. She was a very good student, mostly As and Bs, all things considered, she was a good kid.

Rachel hopped onto the back of the train that was getting ready to leave the train depot. She climbed up onto the roof. She cranked up Panic at the Disco's "The Ballad of Mona Lisa".

" _Say what you mean. Tell me I'm right. And let the sun rain down on me. Give me a sign, I want to believe,_ " Rachel sang the pre-chorus.

She jumped down onto the moving train and sprinted down the top, looking for the next place to safely disembark from the moving train.

Somersaulting off the moving train, she skidded onto the gravel, managing to land on her feet, leaping onto the stopped train in front of her. She somersaulted off the front of the train and began running over the next set of tracks.

She could hear the oncoming train, but she wasn't fast enough. Suddenly, someone grabbed her and scooped her up, and took her to safety.

John looked at his daughter and smiled.

"Careful Bluebird, one would think you were hoping the city's heroes would rescue you because you pulled a stunt like that," John's stern voice spoke to her, using his term of endearment for her.

"Daddy?" Rachel asked in surprise.

"At least there weren't any security guards to catch you pulling off parkour stunts on trains, Rachel" John smiled; he knelt, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I dote on you, dear child. My wife wouldn't have let you get away with that if she were your mother."

John affectionately ruffled her hair.

John saw Rachel's shoulders slump, "At least your wife would _care_. My mom just neglects me and only pulls me out for parties like a fancy dress. She's referred to me as a trophy. I don't even _want_ to know what that means."

"Trust me, dear child, you _don't_ want to know what that means," John smiled sadly. "We should get out of here before you do get into trouble."

Father and daughter began walking away. "Let's go to Burgers and have some burgers and shakes," John suggested.

They headed off to Burgers and John bought them dinner.

"I didn't know you liked chocolate milkshakes, dad," Rachel glanced at him.

"Well, we don't get to go out to eat often," John replied. "Since your mother doesn't want me to see you."

Rachel Grayson sighed, "It's not fair. It's bad enough she neglects me."

"Then again, child, I'm nobody's favorite person," John said.

"Because you kill people for money," Rachel replied.

"Yes, such things are looked down on by society, except for in the movies and fiction, of course," John gestured to the poster of the latest _Super Ninja Showdown 9_ featuring a deadly assassin as the main villain of the film playing at the movie theater across the street.

"You say you're just a mercenary. Are you going to tell me you're some knight in shining armor instead?" Rachel asked.

"Knights were more like thugs than brave men that rescued damsels in distress. Chivalry was created to keep them in check so they wouldn't terrorize the peasants. They were men that went to war, seeking honor and glory. The path of chivalry was more than _one_ path, it was _whatever_ the knight thought was good and honorable, and that can be _anything_ at all," John laughed, gesturing to another poster of a knight in shining armor displayed outside the theater.

"I'm just a mercenary, I go where the money is, I won't shy away from it. I was forced into this life. You go in all the way or not at all," John drank his chocolate milkshake.

John smiled, "People say youth is wasted on the young. I disagree. I believe wisdom is wasted on the old. All you can do is part with it, but very few will take it, least of all the people closest to you. They want no part of it."

John leaned over across the table.

"Rachel, I'm going to be busy for a while, but I will come to see you eventually," John smiled. "I'm going to be spending time with your older brother."

"I see, when will I get to meet him?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know, sometime soon. Let's just say the city's going to have a reason to celebrate their heroes very soon," John said in a cryptic tone.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rachel asked.

"Not anything for you to worry about, Bluebird, let's just say the news headlines will probably become very exciting sometime soon," John sipped his milkshake.

"Oh, like that H.I.V.E. incident where they took over Titans Tower. And that Slade guy, he's made the news lately. I know _all_ about him."

" _Sure_ you do," John smiled.

"I already know, daddy, are you going to kill them?" Rachel asked in a quiet voice.

"You were always smart, Rachel. No, I don't want to kill them, if anything, they need to become stronger to protect the city from a greater threat than I am."

John glanced at the empty burger wrappers. "The Teen Titans will make sure that no one dies, that is their job after all. I am counting on that to be the case. The only time I kill is if I'm being paid for it, and I'm not being paid for this."

John stood to his feet, ruffling her hair again.

"There are rumors that I have a code of honor, that I won't kill an innocent if they're not my target. In theory, I have that code, but in practice, who am I kidding? Long ago, I killed people because others told me to, because I thought I was protecting someone precious to me, but I was just a puppet. The people I killed were _certainly_ innocent. The only "innocent" people are people that _I_ feel are innocent. So me complaining about the deaths of innocents is hypocritical."

"Are you going to tell them?" John asked.

"Not like I can just find them anywhere," Rachel said. "You value loyalty above all else."

"Yes I do, but you're not going to come into my world. I prefer that you stay in yours. Once you start down this path there's no turning back," John got up from the table.

John gave her a hug, "Go home, and stay out of trouble."

"You're one to talk!" Rachel laughed. She headed home.

Rachel arrived at her mother's mansion and headed to her room. Since she had finished her homework, she went into her room and fired up one of the _Swordwalker_ films.

She saw the door to her room open and Samantha Vanaver walked in.

"Hello, Rachel, how was school?" Samantha asked, feigning interest.

"It was fine, and your day?" Rachel replied, also feigning interest.

"Just another long day of meetings, you're a very likable person, you should try making friends."

"I'll be fine, people will come around," Rachel told her mother.

Her mother looked down at her phone, "Damn, another meeting. I have to go."

"Goodbye and good night," Rachel said, she got ready for bed and lay on it. Samantha Vanaver closed the door and left her alone.

"Now what am I going to do?" Rachel asked herself. Her father was going away again and her mother was obsessed with her meetings. Maybe she _should_ try to find the Teen Titans, at least it'd be interesting to see them in person, even if she didn't get to talk to them. At least that would bring some excitement to her life.

Rachel Grayson sighed. Maybe she'd get lucky and make some friends at school. She wanted to be optimistic, but so far people assumed she was the snobby rich kid. She just wished she could be treated like a normal person.

Maybe she'd make friends tomorrow, Rachel thought as she continued watching the _Swordwalker_ movie. Maybe something exciting would happen.

* * *

Slade arrived back at his secret lair. He found Alex Peabody waiting for him.

"Did you finish building what I asked for?" Slade asked.

"The bombs? Yeah, I'm going to have to wait until midnight to have your robot commandos place them all over the city," Alex explained. "You sure you're going through with this plan?"

Slade stood at ease, with his hands folded behind his back. "If the Titans are going to have a nemesis, I want my debut to be truly spectacular. Jump City is the black pin. It is a very special city, just like Gotham."

"The black pin?" Alex asked, curious, pointing at the photograph of Robin, pinned to the corkboard with a black pin.

Slade gestured to the corkboard full of photographs and colored pins.

"In our trailer at Halys circus, I used to place pins on all the stops on the route card, the city's where we would perform. Blue shows were small shows, less dangerous tricks. Red pins were big cities, bigger shows, more dangerous tricks. All our stops had red or blue pins. Except for Gotham City. Gotham City is the black pin, no holds barred, pull out all the stops, bring down the house. No safety wires, no nets, the riskiest show. Everyone pushes themselves to the limit."

Slade turned to face Alex and stretched out his hands in a gesture that was meant to draw attention to himself.

"Some places just have a _hunger_ about them. You either feed them what they want or you stay far, far away. I'm going to give Jump City what it wants: a worthy nemesis for the Teen Titans."

It was time to make his presence known in a way only a showman such as himself could: Make a flashy and spectacular entrance that made him the message he wanted to send the Teen Titans, something that would most certainly get his son's attention. And he was going to enjoy every second of it.


	4. Fault Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade encounters Robin for the first time and they battle each other. The Titans defuse Slade's bombs and Samantha Vanaver hosts a gala in the Teen Titans honor. Both Grayson siblings meet each other for the first time.

Slade watched from the shadows as the Titans either ran, flew, or in Robin’s case, drove to the sight of the first bomb that his robotic minions had placed along one of the fault lines in Jump City.

They had received the report at five in the morning, which he had expected.

“Excellent, Titans. Impress me, make this a challenge, at least,” Slade said to himself.

John kept track of them via security feeds that he tapped into at regular intervals. He knew that Robin had found the first bomb at the bridge.

“Cyborg, scan the seismic fault lines and see what you can find,” Robin ordered.

Cyborg ran a scan. “There’s something located on three of the seismic faults around the city. I found them at the park, the pier, and the bridge.”

“Have everyone evacuate when you get to those locations, I’ll take the nearest one. Where is it?” Robin asked.

“The bridge is the closest,” Cyborg replied.

Robin headed to the bridge. He found the bomb connected to the bridge’s foundation.

Cyborg found the bomb at the pier and Starfire found the bomb at the park.

Robin began carefully examining the bomb. It was a maze of wires leading to a timer.

Robin pulled out a freeze pellet and prepared to throw it at the bomb.

“I wouldn’t do that, Teen Wonder, I made it special, if it drops below a certain temperature, it’ll blow,” Slade spoke, hoping his voice wouldn’t be recognized.

Robin whirled around to face him. The expression on his face showed no recognition. The Electrum in John’s body, combined with hours of hoarse screaming down in the Labyrinth when he was tortured by William Cobb, his grandfather had drastically altered the sound of his voice. He was unrecognizable to his son. Like Edmond Dantes as the Count of Monte Cristo in Alexandre Dumas’ famous novel.

Slade stood before Robin, folding his arms over his chest. 

John smiled beneath his mask; his son was handsome and resembled him when he was that age. To think he had been eight-years-old the last time he had seen him, besides on video.

“Robin. We meet at last,” Slade greeted him, he let himself relax.

“Who are you?” Robin demanded.

“You were wondering who I was, so I decided to visit you in person,” Slade said. 

“So you’re Slade,” Robin said, clenching his fist. “What are you planning?”

“Seismic generators, Robin,” Slade explained. “Placed on fault lines all over the city. And in three short hours, it will trigger an earthquake so magnificent; it will break your city in two.”

“I see you got my invitation, just you and me, come on! Show me what you are, Robin. Impress me,” Slade taunted. 

Slade watched Robin charged in, unleashing a series of punches that caused Slade to back up, but only for a moment. Slade pulled out his energy staff that was a custom weapon made specifically for him. 

The supervillain swung his energy staff attacking Robin. Robin blocked the blows with his arms. Slade rained down a flurry of strikes and Robin blocked them, with some effort.

Slade stepped back, letting Robin catch his breath.

Robin kicked the staff out of Slade’s hand and Slade watched it land out of his reach.

“Time for round two,” Slade said, unsheathing his sword.

Robin held up a pair of tonfa and began circling Slade.

The two exchanged blows. Slade blocked Robin’s blows with his sword. He managed to duck as Robin swung the tonfa at his head. Slade knocked both tonfas from his hands despite Robin’s best efforts.

“You’re not bad, but if you were wearing gauntlets instead of gloves, you could break my sword. Your former partner would have done that already!” Slade taunted.

“What?” Robin asked, shocked.

“You’re no threat to me, Robin; you still have much to learn. About me. About what made me who I am. And about you,” Slade said cryptically. “It seems the game is over before it even begins.”

“I’m not here to play games, Slade,” Robin took out his grappling hook.

Slade felt something hit him and realized Robin launched his grappling hook and used it to clothesline him, Robin slammed his fist into his face. Slade dropped the sword and let himself land on the ground; he back rolled and landed on his feet, not utilizing the backflip to regain his balance, something he had taught Dick as a child.

Slade watched as Robin used his birdarangs to form his sword. He scrambled and grabbed his blade.

The swords clashed as Slade aimed for his head. Robin blocked it and slashed at his chest. Slade parried the blow and thrust his sword at Robin. Robin leaped up and stood on the blade perfectly balanced and ran towards him on it, executing a backflip to kick him in the head.

Slade dropped the sword and pulled out a gun, he aimed it and fired. Robin avoided the shot and used a birdarang to knock the gun from his hand. Slade watched as Robin caught the gun and threw it at a nearby pole like throwing a birdarang. Slade couldn’t help but watch in awe as the gun ricocheted off the metal pole and flew straight back in his direction.

Slade accepted the backstrap of his own Smith and Weston to his face as it knocked him off his feet. He rolled on the ground and regained his footing, coming to a kneeling position.

Slade looked at him with admiration, “I gotta say I missed watching you work.”

“What?!” Robin asked, stunned. This man had been watching him?

“Yes, you’ve caught my interest. Now let’s see if you’re worth my time,” Slade taunted him.

Slade watched as Robin executed a kick, Slade caught his leg and forced it back down. Robin executed a flurry of punches that Slade avoided. 

Slade slammed his closed fist into Robin’s gut and yanked him towards him by his cape. Slade slammed his masked face into Robin’s head.

Slade casually threw him to the ground. Robin landed on his hands and knees. 

Robin suddenly leaped up, flipping over Slade’s head. He landed in a kneeling position on Slade’s shoulders and slammed both of his fists into the side of Slade’s masked skull.

“I’m going to beat you! I’m going to win!” Robin said as he pressed his advantage.

Slade felt dizzy, that was a good trick; he was impressed. He wasn’t expecting that. Robin jumped off him and slammed his booted foot into his chest, sending him stumbling back; he needed to get out of sight so he could use his robot double.

“With each victory of the light, it is the dark that wins,” Slade told him cryptically. These words were not his own, they belonged to Matthew Stover and a _Star Wars_ novel of all things, but it was entirely true in this case.

It was time for him to go before Robin got suspicious of him before he began to use his acrobatics that would give him away. He’d let his robotic double-take the rest of the beating that Robin was determined to give him.

Slade disappeared behind the bridge’s support column. His robotic double landed next to him. He let the double walk around the other side.

John smiled; Dick was good, but not good enough. He’d wait a little longer, besides, the fake Khronoton Detonator wasn’t ready yet, and he didn’t have enough Nanoscopic Probes for the other Titans at the moment.

Slade switched with a robot commando double of himself. He cautiously left the area as he continued to watch as Robin began fighting the robot double.

Slade watched as Robin somersaulted into his robot double, kicking it in the face. 

Slade saw Robin threw a handful of birdarangs at the robot. The robot blocked the projectiles and Slade spoke.

“Robin, is that the best you can do?” Slade asked, disappointed.

“I’m going to finish this!” Robin shouted.

Slade watched as Robin swept his cape into the robot double’s “face”, it staggered back, appearing to be stunned. Robin began pummeling the robot in the face until he hit it so hard; it flew back into the wall.

The robot Slade rose to its feet and charged forward, it suddenly stopped, looked down at the remote explosive attached to his chest. Robin pushed the button and set off the detonator. The explosion tossed him backward.

“I’m done playing games, Slade!” Robin shouted, removing the villain’s mask.

“You’ll have to wait to see me in person Robin; we’ll meet face to face another time. You have more important things to worry about,” Slade leaned into the camera.

The number 5 appeared on the screen. The timer began counting down.

Robin jumped out of the way as the robot double exploded. 

Slade found Alex waiting in his car and they drove back to his secret lair. Slade spoke to Robin through a microphone in the robotic minion’s mask, watching the fight through the camera inside the robot.

John muted the microphone. “You’ve done a good job with the programming Alex, he can’t even tell the difference.”

They drove away, and he was waiting for his son to pull off the mask. Exchanging words, John pushed the button to set off the timer inside his robot double. 

John watched the screen go blank and he smiled. Everything was going according to plan. Let the Titans be the heroes, he would bide his time, he would get what he wanted soon enough.

Robin turned his attention to the bomb and used a pair of birdarangs to sever all the wires simultaneously before the bomb could detonate.

Starfire ripped the concrete out of the park and carried it up into space, launching it away from Earth’s gravitational pull. Raven put an energy field around Starfire as she removed the bomb to make sure it didn’t explode.

Cyborg used the laser cutter in both his fingers to sever all the wires simultaneously as well.

Slade tapped the camera closest to Robin.

Robin opened his communicator. 

“I just heard about what the Titans have done, it was being filmed live from a news helicopter. I just want to show you all appreciation on behalf of Jump City and I’ll be hosting a gala in honor of the Teen Titans,” Samantha Vanaver told him.

“Thank you, Miss Vanaver, we appreciate it, I’ll tell the others and we’ll be there,” Robin said. Slade ended the surveillance, just hearing her voice made him angry, but his plan was going perfectly.

The bombs were defused and the city was safe. The Titans were the heroes and he’d gotten a glimpse of what Dick could do. He was satisfied. For now.

* * *

This is John Grayson, the Flying Angel, the Flying Grayson. He is a simple man that enjoys the simple things in life. Performing death-defying stunts for large audiences is what makes him happy because he brings joy to others. But there is another side to him; one that he wishes did not exist. The assassin, the killer, the Talon. He is merely a hired killer for the Court of Owls. At least he was, and that brought its own suffering.

He remembers the worst night of his life. The shadow stands above him and orders him to kill. And he must follow orders or lose that which is most precious to him.

This is a night he will never forget. The night he killed his predecessor, Alton Carver. He remembers the knife blade sliding across his victim’s throat, the blood pouring out, and watching the body drop.

But what happened next was so much worse.

He remembers what came afterward, the needle stabbing into his neck. Waking up in a bed with the Grandmaster Samantha Vanaver straddling his waist. He remembers how awful and helpless he feels, betraying the wife of his youth despite his protests, but his body is not his own, he is trapped inside his own mind, inside his own flesh, unable to control himself. His mind is so hazy he can barely get the word “no” out, but it falls on deaf ears as it leaves his lips and Samantha Vanaver does as she pleases.

He remembers the smell of her perfume, the white dress she wore. He wishes he could forget the horrific experience and wake up from this nightmare. He wants to reach out and crush the shadow that has destroyed him, but he cannot touch the shadow. She has already finished and she’s smiling at him smugly, like a predator that has devoured its prey.

Samantha Vanaver stole his pride as a man, his dignity, and everything that made him feel safe. Was this to spite his wife? Samantha had made several snide remarks during the encounter. Or was it to spite him, for not being “good enough” as a Talon? She had constantly tormented him for his hesitancy. 

He feels anger. Anger and rage for being powerless. He was going to make her pay for this. This was his reason for living: to kill Samantha Vanaver and crush the Court of Owls into dust.

John didn’t care how long it took, he would kill her. Then he was murdered, and it seemed like he would never have his revenge, but she brought him back into his own private Hell and he endured it until he could take no more.

He hated not being in control, so he would take control away from her. Control, he needed control. He would take everything from her and then he would end her life gloating in triumph.

This is John Grayson for now.

* * *

John turned on the news to see if the local news station was covering the bombs he had placed in the city. The news reporter said that Samantha Vanaver was going to host a gala at city hall to thank them and that she was going to donate a million dollars to keep the Titans bills paid.

It was time he saw the results of the Titans’ victory. John changed out of his costume and into a suit and tie. He got into a car he owned and drove to city hall.

“Your name sir?” a guest asked him.

“Evan Dorsletter,” John replied. He made his way towards the back.

He made a point of staying out of the Titans’ vicinity, he didn’t want to be noticed, but he did want to watch them.

John watched as the Titans came in and as Samantha Vanaver greeted them.

“On behalf of the citizens of Jump City, we cannot express our gratitude enough for saving the city from the massive bomb threat we experienced. So thank you so much,” Samantha Vanaver said in a voice filled with gratitude.

She began clapping and the crowd applauded, cheering. When she wasn’t looking John noticed Raven narrowing her eyes at the socialite.

John read Raven’s lips as she leaned over to Dick.

“She’s lying, she doesn’t mean a word of it,” Raven said.

“Just play along, Raven,” Robin replied. The young teenager nodded and began to mingle with the crowd.

Samantha Vanaver smiled as she placed her hand on the shoulders of a young teenager that was standing in the crowd.

“Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, this is my daughter Rachel,” Samantha Vanaver smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Rachel said, shaking hands with each of them.

She smiled at Robin, and he noticed that her facial expression was…sad. John saw it pass from her face and Robin did notice, but then Rachel spoke to them and the moment passed.

“I can’t thank you guys enough for everything. Watched it on the TV, scared the crap out of me, the entire school just stopped to watch it all on a giant projector in the gym.”

“We’re here to protect the city and everyone in it,” Robin smiled.

“Say, Rachel, would you like to hang out again sometime?” Beast Boy asked.

Rachel rubbed her head, “I’m not looking for a boyfriend, but I would hang out with you.”

“I would like to do the “hanging out” as well, perhaps on the weekend, when you are not at school,” Starfire smiled.

“Really? I’d like that,” Rachel returned her smile.

Beast Boy tried to hide his disappointment. “It’d be cool to hang out.”

Cyborg laughed, "You try too hard, BB."

They spoke a little longer and then the Titans began mingling with the crowd. Rachel situated herself in a corner where she ate the hors d'oeuvres they had there. 

Rachel sighed; tomorrow she was suddenly going to be very popular. And not for her outgoing personality, people would no doubt want details about meeting the Teen Titans. 

John saw Rachel look up as Dick stood next to her.

“Beast Boy tries hard when it comes to flirting with girls, doesn’t he?” Rachel asked him.

“Was it that obvious?” Robin laughed. “Your name is Rachel, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, he’s a nice guy and all, but he does try _way_ too hard. Besides, all I want right now is friends, not a boyfriend,” Rachel told him.

“I see,” Robin smiled at her.

“Tomorrow’s gonna suck so bad. Everyone’s gonna want details on you guys, people will talk to me for a day then they’ll forget I exist,” Rachel sighed.

“You’re friendly enough, you must have some friends at school,” Robin prodded.

“I wish, at least you get to live with your friends,” Rachel smiled at him. “I keep thinking things will look up. I have to believe that it will. If you believe a thing hard enough, it’s true.” 

“I see,” Robin kept his gaze on her, scrutinizing her closely.

Robin raised his voice, “I’m afraid, we’ll have to turn in for tonight. Thank you so much for all of this.”

The Titans all left. The party continued.

Rachel Grayson smiled to herself when they were out of sight. She’d never felt happier. But of course, she couldn’t let it show in front of her mother. Rachel chose a cheerful expression as her mother walked by.

“You’d better head home too, Rachel,” Samantha told her. “I’ll have the driver take you.”

Rachel left the building and got into the limousine and the driver took her home.

Robin let the city hall doors shut behind him as the others walked ahead.

The other Titans were ahead of them and Raven stopped to look at Robin.

“Robin, is something wrong?” Raven asked.

Robin looked at her, “Something Rachel said, I can’t get it out of my head.”

“Well, she is pretty cute, dude,” Beast Boy laughed.

“No, she said, “If you believe a thing hard enough, it’s true.” That’s not something she made up, it’s something my dad said,” Robin told him.

“Your dad, you mean Batman?” Beast Boy asked.

“No, my biological dad, but it was only something you’d know if you knew him, and he’s been dead for years.”

“But that would mean that your father cheated on your mother, and you said they were always happy together,” Starfire told him.

“I know, and it’s nearly impossible for him to live a double-life because we were constantly touring with the circus. But my dad was always happy with my mom. They had verbal fights now and then, but it was never about him cheating on her. I would have remembered something like that.”

“Maybe it was before they got married?” Cyborg suggested.

“She’d be older than me, and she’s a year-and-a-half younger than me,” Robin sighed. “And my father was Romani. Sex before marriage is taboo in my culture so he would have followed that, plus he was Catholic, so that’s also taboo.”

Robin ran his fingers through his hair. 

“I’m going to look into this, no matter where it leads me. If my dad did cheat on my mom, I need to know why, and why he hid it from us,” Robin punched his fist into his palm.

John watched him from the rooftop, “Good Robin, besides, having you learn the truth will help you understand what must be done. Now I have to go scout the Securitus building. Those three chips they have might contain the information I need, and I don’t want my skills to become rusty.”

Slade went back to this lair and changed back into his armor. It was time for another adventure, one that would further test his son’s skills. He was impressed, but Dick wasn’t ready, and neither was he. He would only put his plan into motion once he procured what he needed. Dick needed further testing, and then everything would begin.


	5. The Hero of San Miguel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade has Alex steal Mary Grayson's corpse and bring it to Jump City. Slade infiltrates Securitus Industries. Slade then goes to San Miguel in Central America and takes a mercenary job. Returning to Jump City, he finds Calvin Rose, another performer from Haly's Circus that managed to escape the Court of Owls. They discuss their activities fighting against the Court. John decides to test Robin again to see if he's ready to become his apprentice.

SSlade slipped by the security guards that protected Securitus Industries. He silently slipped past the security guards and examined the system guarding the computer chip he wanted to have his minions steal.

It was guarded by a laser wall that would fry a normal human hand, but his minions' promethium covered gloved hands could reach through and grab it with ease.

Slade slipped back out and returned to his lair. He'd sent Alex to Gotham City, to retrieve Mary Grayson's corpse. He didn't want Samantha Vanaver to take it and do something to her, whether it was physically destroying her body or reviving her to blackmail him via torturing or killing her again.

"We got what you asked for, but I'm not going to ask what you want with the corpse of a dead acrobat," Alex Peabody said.

"She's not your concern, Alex, I just need the body brought here," Slade told him.

"Your robot minions have removed the casket," Alex told him.

"Good, have them replace it with the replica I had made," Slade instructed. "Bring the body back, I'll store it somewhere safe. Is her body a skeleton?"

Slade heard the sound of the casket being opened.

"She's not, but how? She's been perfectly preserved!" Alex exclaimed in shock. "What do you want me to do with her?"

"Bring her back to Jump City and I'll be waiting for you at Pier 41. I own the warehouse there and I've made a false floor where you will store her corpse. It's also where I want you to store my fake Khronoton Detonator."

Alex laughed, "So you're hiding a corpse under a fake Khronoton Detonator. You are sick and twisted. How do you know no one will find the body?"

"They'll be looking for a bomb, not a corpse, and it'll be empty by the time they get there," Slade replied, amused.

"I'll do it," Alex replied. "What will you be doing?"

"I'm going to Sebastian Clark's house. "Let me know when you get back."

Slade traveled to Europe, looking for Sebastian Clark's house and found it empty. His death wouldn't be discovered for a while and he didn't have any personal servants despite his vast wealth. He had a Securitus security system installed in his house that was considered state-of-the-art.

Slade found something interesting among Sebastian Clark's belongings. A book behind a display case.

Slade disabled the alarms and lifted the glass casing surrounding a hardcover book on display. _"The History of the Court of Owls"_ with the subtitle " _The Truth Behind Gotham's Most Frightening Folktale_ " by Erastus Clark.

He remembered Erastus Clark. The Court had sent John to kill him after the man supposedly tried to publish a tell-all book about the Court. The man hadn't done it out of a sense of justice, but because the Court of Owls betrayed them, so he thought he could destroy them by exposing the Court to the public.

John recalled his specific instructions were to kill Erastus. They hadn't specified his son Sebastian at all. Perhaps that was why the man had been so eager to join them because his father's death confirmed they were real, and he wanted in on being a "secret ruler" of Gotham City.

Slade took what he wanted, made a copy of Sebastian Clark's hard drive while he stayed in the house, helping himself to the man's excellent food and drink.

After he finished gathering what he had been searching for, he found Doctor Leviticus. She was staying in a nondescript house.

"Are you here to kill me, did the Court send you, John Grayson?" she asked. Doctor Leviticus looked at him, "Does that mean you're going to kill me?"

"No, of course not. I'll take you to a safe place, Slade explained. "I'm here to make a deal with you," Slade said.

"A deal?" the doctor asked.

"Make me some Electrum that can revive the dead, in return, I'll take you somewhere safe," Slade offered.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Doctor Leviticus asked.

"I'll keep my word, I always do," Slade told her.

"Don't worry, just make me enough of that formula to revive two people, and I'll take you to a safe place where the Court will never find you," Slade told her.

"Very well, Slade," Doctor Leviticus nodded.

"How long will it take to make the Electrum?" Slade asked.

"A month if you want what the Court has in their Talons," Doctor Leviticus replied.

"Deal," Slade shook her hand. "I'm a man of my word. I have never failed to fulfill a contract."

He took her to his plane and flew her out to an unknown location.

Slade approached a mysterious man. "Are you the one they call Mister Minos?"

"Yes," Mister Minos replied. "What does the deadliest mercenary on the planet want from Hypnos?"

"I'm here to request your organization shelter Doctor Leviticus in the God Garden. She has interesting information that Hypnos would like to know. She asked me to keep her safe from the Court of Owls, so I brought her to you."

"What do you want in exchange?" Mister Minos asked.

"Only to offer my services if your organization should need them," Slade said.

"We'll take her and keep her safe," Mister Minos said.

Slade left him. Now he had another job. He'd done his chores, now it was time to have another adventure.

* * *

Slade took a plane to the country of San Miguel in Central America. He knew there was a profit to be made from the civil unrest between President Molina and his rebellious General Suarez.

He requested a meeting with the President, saying he'd come to deal with the conflict. Slade arrived in full body armor. His Ikon suit was finally finished. The Nth metal plating would augment his natural healing abilities.

"El Presidente Molina, you called me here, why?" Slade asked, knowing the answer.

"I find General Suarez's rebellion…distasteful. I'll pay you generously to put an end to his activities," President Molina informed him.

Slade nodded, acknowledging him.

"The government of San Miguel didn't earn its nickname, "the South Africa of Central America" for its peaceful intentions." Slade looked thoughtful, folding his arms.

"Unfortunately for you, my answer is no, and once I say no, I don't change my mind. This meeting never happened, understand?" Slade asked, crossing his arms.

"I'll pay you generously, please reconsider!" President Molina said eagerly.

"I suppose I'll have to give you my answer in a way that you will understand," Slade whipped out his sword in one hand and decapitated President Molina before his security detail could even move to protect him.

He quickly removed his holstered his Smith and Weston and shot all the guards in the head.

Slade glanced down at President Molina's head, noting the shocked expression still on the dead man's face. Slade picked up the head by the hair and placed it into the bag he'd brought with him.

He escaped the room by throwing an explosive up into the ceiling then using his grappling hook to pull himself out of the building. He sprinted across the roof and grabbed his sniper rifle. Slade sniped the guards outside and escaped into the night.

Slade easily located where General Suarez was staying with his men.

Slade launched a dagger at a guard from the woods. He nailed him in the heart as he charged into the watchtower.

The falling man managed to pull the alarm even as he died. The alarms blared as the soldiers grabbed their machine guns.

Slade glanced to his right and ran forward. Leaping out, he used a safety hook attached to his arm to zipline his way across to the other watchtower. The soldiers opened fire and Slade returned fire with his Smith and Weston. He shot them dead as he launched himself into the other building, knocking the guard through the wall.

Slade felt the bullets embed themselves in his body. The suit wasn't quite as functional as he thought. He'd have to adjust it. He accepted the bullets, whirled around, and shot his attackers.

He ran forward, leaping down at the man shooting at him from the ground. He crushed the man with his weight, shooting him in the head as the blood splattered on his mask.

He shot the man in front of him, performed a rolling somersault, avoiding the other soldier firing at him, rolling to his feet, Slade knocked the gun out of his hand and performed a judo throw, then he shot the man in the face as he lay on the ground.

Slade casually turned around and shot the soldier charging him through the heart as he ran forward. Stepping forward, he knelt on bended knee, tossing a grenade at the feet of the soldiers in front of him. The explosive blinked and went off, killing them.

Slade ran through the smoke and into the building. He killed the guards with ease and kicked down the door to the room where General Suarez was staying. His mask was covered in blood.

General Suarez fired a pair of machine guns at him, but Slade ran forward in a zigzag pattern, avoiding the bullets. He rolled to his feet, severing the guns with his sword.

He grabbed the man by his shoulder and stood behind him, placing his blade across the general's neck.

"Molina sent you," General Suarez said calmly.

"El Presidente doesn't like his generals plotting against him. He finds revolution distasteful."

"Then go ahead, cut my throat, you'll never get out of here alive," Suarez warned him.

Slade pushed the blade of his broadsword that he called the Deathstroke against the general's neck.

"Of course I will," Slade said confidently. He removed the head from his bag. He held it up to General Suarez's eye level.

"What is this?" General Suarez asked in shock.

"The head of President Molina," Slade replied. "Note the look of surprise on his face," Slade spoke calmly. "Very similar to how you look right now."

General Suarez's soldiers ran into the room and lined up, preparing to fire at Slade.

General Suarez ordered them to stop. "I don't understand. If Molina hired you to assassinate me then—"

"I'm a mercenary, not an idiot. Your President was an oppressive fascist who ground his people into the dirt. Under his rule, San Miguel became a cesspool of poverty, hunger, and disease while he just grew richer and fatter!"

General Suarez stared at the head in his hand as Slade lowered his sword slightly and backed away.

"Do better, General Suarez, or this could be you!" Slade warned him, sheathing his sword and walking away.

Slade turned around to face him, "Oh yes, there's the little matter of my fee."

General Suarez nodded to his men, silently ordering them to shoot; they cocked the triggers of their AK-47s. Slade shot them in the head so fast the men dropped dead almost instantaneously.

General Suarez's face broke out into a broad grin, "Which I am delighted to pay!"

Slade took his money and departed, heading back to the hotel where he was staying. He stripped off his armor and clothing and used a circus knife to pry out the bullets that hadn't exited his body. Due to his training by the Court of Owls, he didn't feel any pain.

"Christoph, is the plane ready?" Slade asked.

"Yes, Slade, it's all ready for you to go. Heading back to Jump City?" Christoph asked.

"I won't be accepting mercenary jobs for a while, I have a personal matter to attend to," Slade explained. "I'll contact you when I need more work."

* * *

John went into Jump City, looking at the park where his bomb had been placed. The construction crew was busy repairing the area.

John saw a young man, eight years older than Dick, working there.

"Hello Calvin," John greeted him.

"So she wasn't lying when she said you were alive," Calvin Rose replied, not looking at him.

"Were you the one they were going to send after me, you did kill me a second time to become a Talon, not an easy thing to do," John folded his arms over his chest.

"Samantha Vanaver is quite fond of you, you would have been placed in a coffin under Arkham Asylum if she hadn't had you revived," Calvin replied.

"Fondness; is that what you thought it was? You _are_ a stupid kid," John laughed.

"And here I thought you used to be fond of me since we all did work together after all," Calvin Rose laughed. "You used to treat me like family."

"The second son I never had," John let himself smile.

"You might as well have been my father. My biological father locked me in a dog cage and left me to die. I managed to escape and ran away until I passed out. Garrison Haly found me and gave me a home, and your son and I became friends, although I was not part of his inner circle there."

Calvin continued working the concrete. "Why haven't you asked me to be your apprentice?"

"That's not what I want from you Calvin; you don't have the stomach for what I have to do. I'm fighting the Court of Owls; all you've done is run away!" John snapped.

"I know, I'm America's youngest Escape Artist. My job _is_ escaping and running away," Calvin replied sarcastically.

"You're in the same boat as me, boy. The Court of Owls won't just let you leave, you know too much about them. You aborted your mission to kill Sarah Washington and ran away with her and her mother Casey."

"John, Sarah's two-years-old," Calvin snapped.

"I know," John stared at him. "When it came down to it, you made the right choice and managed to escape. I was not so lucky."

"Why couldn't you get away?" Calvin asked.

"I didn't have the luxury of being alone," John said simply.

"I'm fighting them in my own way, John, you're a criminal, you should know what I've been doing."

John pointed his finger in the general direction of the Bank of Perez, "By stealing 13 million dollars from bank accounts belonging to the Court of Owls? Not that I'm not impressed, considering your group is made up of the daughter of a CEO, two former members of the Five Families and Basilisk, a former member of the League of Assassins, and you."

"I don't care if you're impressed when it comes to fighting the Court, I'm willing to help," Calvin Rose began working again.

"I'll find you if I need your help, Calvin," John nodded. He turned away.

"See you down the road, Calvin," John bid him farewell in the circus performers' fashion.

"See you down the road," Calvin replied.

John headed down the alley.

"Anya Volkova," John greeted the beautiful blonde-haired Russian woman as she stepped into his path. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, just wondering what you'd want with Calvin Rose," Anya replied.

"Only to chat, nothing more," Slade crossed his arms.

"I suppose you're having too much fun to stop all this," Anya glanced at him; her green eyes looked at him with annoyance.

"That's amusing, you remind me of _her_ , I always did like blondes," Slade laughed.

"I'm not her, but rumors are saying you want her back. Are you going to interfere with Casey and the others? You killed our benefactor, Sebastian Clark."

"He was playing your friends for suckers, you should thank me," Slade replied. "I'll provide any funding you need, just keep tearing them apart."

"Very well," Anya told him, she moved close to him. "Thank you for saving Casey and Sarah."

She kissed him on the cheek.

"That was only thanks, you're too young for me," Anya laughed. "I am 700 years old."

"Really?" Slade smirked.

"I'm not giving you anything else," Anya laughed. She turned and walked away.

Slade rubbed the back of his head. "When she gets back, my wife is gonna kill me."

* * *

Slade headed back to his lair.

Alexander Peabody greeted him with a friendly expression on his face, "The A.I. programming for your robot double is finally finished. Including the special programming to catch Robin if he falls. I also made modifications to your minions, improving their A.I. as well."

"Impressive, Alex, it seems that everything is ready for me to finally begin my plan. When will the Khronoton Detonator arrive?"

"In a week," Alex replied.

"Good, always nice to find dependable people, especially in this line of work," Slade put a hand on his shoulder.

Alex nodded, and if they ever catch me I don't know anything about anything."

"You're a loyal man," Slade smiled. "A rare thing in my line of work."

Slade noticed the stack of newspapers, "You kept the newspapers?"

"You said you wanted info on the Teen Titans activities so I bought the paper every day for three days."

"Good work," Slade congratulated. He walked over to his seat with the newspapers.

Slade busied himself with reading the newspaper. _"Lights Out: Doctor Light Caught!"_ Slade was interested in how they'd foiled a money truck robbery. It was a good read and Slade noted that Raven had ended the incident, although the paper didn't explain how it happened.

Slade read other articles that read _"Plasmus Back In Hibernation", "Cinderblock Jailbreak", "Mumbo Pulls Disappearing Act", "Jinx Out On Parole", "Who is the HIVE?", and "Who Is Slade?"_ The speculation about him was interesting, but they hadn't realized he was a mercenary. Still, it was an entertaining article.

Robin was finally ready to be tested again, and it was about time he stole the computer chips belonging to the Court of Owls.

Slade stood, folding his arms behind his back. It was time he attended to his business. He'd had enough fun for now.

"It's time that my robot minions break into Securitus Industries and take those chips," Slade smiled. "I have another test for you Dick. Show me how much your skills have improved."

The group of robot minions ran out of the lair, using the jets in their shoes to fly off to the Securitus Industries building.

"So Dickie, what are you going to do now? Just how far are you going to go to stop me?" Slade steepled his hands. "I'm looking forward to watching you put on a show for me."


	6. Masks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade tests Robin again and encounters "Red X". Slade takes a mercenary job killing Warden Templeton. The Khronoton Detonator is completed.

Slade watched through his camera implanted in his minion as his robotic lackey landed inside the Securitus Industries building and found the room containing the computer chip.

The minion was able to spot Robin hanging from the ceiling.

"Tell Slade if he wants this he can come get it himself!" Robin dropped from the ceiling, executing a kick that sent the minion staggering back.

The kick connected and the minion somersaulted back twice and stood before them. The lights turned on revealing the Teen Titans. Slade watched through the camera on the minion as Robin leaped back; avoiding laserfire from above as four other minions burst through a circular hole they created and dropped down beside the one below.

Slade watched as a minion fired at Robin from above, Robin performed a backflip to avoid it. Robin blocked a blow with his elbow and performed a handspring to avoid another attack. He kicked the robot but it blocked him and he avoided laserfire by rolling forward. He leaped up and executed a roundhouse kick, sending the robot into the wall.

Starfire moved backward, rising into the air as she gathered her Starbolts around her body, she fired them off, blasting a minion into the wall. Another robot leaped up and fired his gun, shooting the light above Starfire, intending to crush her.

Robin leaped forward and grabbed her, shoving her out of the way to safety. He caught her and set her on the ground.

Robin looked up as three minions prepared to attack them.

"Huh?" Robin asked.

Suddenly a large computer hard drive smashed into the three minions crushing them on the other side of the room.

"Amazing what you can do with computers these days," Cyborg wiped his hands.

Raven zigzagged out of the way of laserfire as a minion attacked her. She used her soul-self to block a blast. The minion moved in to attack her at close range. She blocked the blows but he swept her feet out from under her.

Raven grunted as she hit the ground, staring up as the minion prepared to shoot her. A green ram charged in and knocked it away, destroying the robot.

"You owe me big time, you owe me big—" Beast Boy taunted in a sing-song voice, dancing with glee.

A minion robot stood behind him and prepared to shoot him until Raven used two giant hard drives to smash it in the face, breaking it. She put her hands on her hips.

"Call it even?" Beast Boy asked, blushing.

Cyborg and Starfire covered multiple angles of the room, firing at the minion that managed to avoid their attacks with acrobatics.

It launched itself off the wall and grabbed the chip and pulled it out of the energy field.

Robin ran forward, launching a birdarang and knocked it out of his hand.

"Mine!" Beast Boy shouted as he ran forward turning into an anteater and grabbing it out of midair with his long tongue. He landed on the ground, skidding to a stop. The minion stepped on his tongue, causing him to let go, it grabbed the chip and rejoined the group. It threw down a smokebomb as they fled.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, chasing after it, Raven followed close behind.

"That tasted so nasty!" Beast Boy said numbly, still reeling from pain.

They headed into the next room, Slade watched Robin on the security camera.

"Split up!" Robin ordered. The Titans scattered. Robin looked down at the sewer grate. He opened it and hopped down into the sewer.

Robin dropped down into the sewer and gave chase as the robot minion ran away.

The minion looked back at Robin, turned around, and fired the gun. Robin executed a roll off the wall in a zigzag pattern, using his cape to keep himself moving forward as he continued his pursuit. Coming out of the roll, he threw a birdarang and the minion jumped up and shot it down.

The minion turned a corner and tossed an explosive behind him, bringing down the sewer walls in an attempt to prevent Robin's pursuit.

It turned around to look at the rubble and then it turned back to run ahead. It fired its gun at what appeared to be an exit door. It burned a hole through the mountainside and prepared to make its escape.

It stopped as Starfire rose in front of it.

"I am asking you nicely to stop running and—" Starfire began ordering the minion.

It fired the gun without hesitation; the blast knocked her unconscious as she began to fall. It somersaulted forward and leaped out of the hole and used the rockets in its shoes to fly upward.

Slade watched the camera as it rocketed towards the sky and was impressed as something attempted to pull it down; it suddenly swooped down and went flying across the water until it crashed on the shore.

Slade heard the sound of spitting and suspected it was Starfire. He'd saved her and grabbed onto his minion. He was improving and that was good.

Slade saw the camera tilt up as Robin grabbed the minion by the collar of its polymerized titanium cloth.

"Who's Slade? Why does he want this chip?" Robin grabbed the minion's mask and pulled it off, "And why are you working...for...him?"

Slade saw Robin's angry expression as the video signal became steady.

"Excellent work, Robin," Slade congratulated.

"Slade," Robin snarled out his name.

"Really, I think your skills are improving," Slade kept his eye on him through the screen.

"No more games! What do you want?" Robin demanded.

Slade shook his head. _You never did wait for me or your mother. You were always trying to get what you wanted as soon as possible._

"But you do lack patience. If you're really so curious about my intentions, perhaps we should meet face to face," Slade leaned forward, gazing at him.

"Tell me where you're hiding and I'll be there in a heartbeat!" Robin shouted.

"Patience, Robin," Slade told him, the image on the screen flickered, "Patience."

Slade ended the communication. Robin had done very well. Now all he had to do was wait to see what kind of show his son would put on for him.

* * *

Slade tapped into the security cameras at Securitus Industries. He saw the lights of an alarm flashing and saw the guards run out into the other room. The door suddenly sealed itself shut and locked behind them.

Slade watched with interest as a figure clad in black, wearing gray gloves appeared, phasing into the room. He reached out and took the chip.

Red X flinched as the door behind him exploded.

"He's got the chip!" the guards shouted.

They fired their rifles and missed a few shots even as Red X rose and vanished into thin air.

"Where'd he go?" one of the guards asked.

Slade tapped into another camera on the roof of the Securitus Enterprise building.

Slade heard Robin's voice through the speaker on Cyborg's arm.

"I'm working a Slade lead on the far side of town. Sure you guys can handle this without me?" Robin asked.

"No problem!" Cyborg replied.

 _Sure you are Dick, sure you are,_ John was amused. He saw Red X open the upper window, climb out and close it.

"You working for Slade, tough guy?" Cyborg asked, turning his hand into his Sonic Cannon.

"Red X works alone," Red X replied. Red X raised his palm and fired an X-shaped shuriken at Cyborg.

Cyborg shot it with his cannon and it exploded. He fired off a series of shots at Red X.

Red X leaped back, landing across the roof, landing lightly on his feet, he leaped up whirled around in the air, shooting off Xs from his opened palms.

Cyborg ran away from the shots fired at him as Beast Boy leaped into the air, transforming into a lion. Red X fired a shuriken at him, it transmuted from a solid into a liquid in midair, covering the green Titan in sticky goo that prevented him from moving. Beast Boy hit the ground hard and tried to escape the goo. He transformed into a gorilla, then an eagle, and then an elephant.

Starfire and Raven flew at him. Starfire fired off a flurry of Starbolts. Raven tried to grab him with her soul self. Red X performed a backflip and avoided her shots. He fired off two Xs.

The first X hit Starfire and bound her arms so she couldn't move; she hit the ground as the second X hit Raven in the mouth. Raven fell over while trying to remove the X-shaped gag with her hands.

Cyborg dropped down and tried to grab Red X with both hands. Red X ducked and avoided him as Red X jumped and landed behind Cyborg, he used a shuriken to open the computer located in Cyborg's back and hacked him, spinning his arms until he fell over.

"Hey, yo, who told you how to shut me down?!" Cyborg exclaimed until he became inert.

Cyborg couldn't turn his head in Red X's direction, "Yeah, you better run!"

Starfire tried to twist around to see him while Raven still tried to remove the gag over her mouth. Red X sprinted across the roof and jumped in the air, teleporting himself away.

Slade waited, he knew it was only a matter of time before Red X would contact him. After about 20 minutes, John saw the incoming video call. Red X appeared on the screen.

"Rumor has it, you're interested in this," Red X told him.

John looked at the masked face; he already knew it was him. Only he would know all his friends' weaknesses in combat.

_Oh, Dick, if you're mother could see you now; would she be pleased or disappointed? She was always good at stealing, but she never became a career criminal because she didn't want to be caught by the police If anything, Mary would probably be amused that you're stealing in order to trap me. That's not very noble of you, but then again, you are getting desperate. I'm quite pleased that you are willing to get your hands dirty. It means you won't have any problem stealing from the Court of Owls for me._

"I'm interested in many things, Mr. ..." Slade prodded.

"X. Red X," Red X introduced himself.

John let his expression show amusement, which was him raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmm. Catchy. So, are you proposing a sale or a gift?" Slade asked.

"A partnership. I give you the chip, you cut me in on your plans," Red X offered.

"Partnership. My, my, we are ambitious. But an alliance cannot be forged from one small chip. If you're going to win my trust, I'll require more," Slade told him, his eye narrowed.

Red X looked at him through the screen, "Just tell me what you want."

Slade tapped into the cameras of the tech building where the second chip was located. He saw Robin chasing Red X. John was amused, that was a clever trick. Red X threw a net around "Robin" and continued running.

"I'm fine, get X! Go!" Robin pointed at the thief. Red X sprinted towards the subway and jumped down the stairs.

The Teen Titans followed in hot pursuit.

Slade tapped into the subway security cameras. The other Titans made their way down the stairs.

"I've adjusted my ocular implant to scan at multiple sub-harmonics in the EM spectrum," Cyborg said.

"'Kay...do you come with subtitles?" Beast Boy stood behind him, confused.

"My eye should spot him even if he's invisible," Cyborg explained.

Slade watched as Red X dropped down and punched Cyborg in the face, sending him skidding across the concrete, the screeching noise of the metal was loud.

"It's him," Raven said.

Cyborg got to his feet. Red X appeared behind Cyborg and placed a red X on Cyborg's back, trying to open his internal computer system again. It didn't open.

"You gonna have to learn some new tricks, dog," Cyborg taunted Red X.

Cyborg threw Red X into the air and he somersaulted, landing in a crouching position beside Starfire.

"Surrender! We do not wish to fight you!" Starfire warned him.

"Sorry, I'm not through with you yet," Red X replied.

Red X fired another X to silence Starfire. Raven used her power to block it.

Cyborg charged in, throwing punches. Red X ducked low, using his hand to balance himself. He avoided the blow and avoided Starfire as she flew at him. She crashed into Cyborg.

Beast Boy rushed at him and missed. He transformed into a bear but Red X kicked him in the face. Red X used the momentum of his previous kick to kick Raven into wooden boxes. She hit the ground hard.

Beast Boy morphed into a ram and hit Red X in the back. He flew back but grabbed a concrete pillar, bringing himself around to kick at Beast Boy. The green Titan avoided the attack but Red X socked him in the face, sending him bouncing across the train tracks and landing on the railroad.

Beast Boy got up but was very confused when he heard the sound of the train. Slade saw Red X pull him to safety before he could be hit by the oncoming train. They both got to their feet.

"Dude, did you just save me? Uh!" Beast Boy said as Red X kicked him in the stomach, knocking him over.

Red X leaped up the stairs as he ran, vanishing into the night.

"Beast Boy! You are undamaged?" Starfire asked.

"Who is that guy?" Beast Boy asked.

John shut off the camera feed and waited for Red X to call him again. Dick was doing well. He had put on an entertaining show for him.

"Impressive, Red X. I tapped into the security cameras to catch your performance. You treated the Titans to quite a show," Slade said, raising an eyebrow in amusement. John enjoyed watching his son attempt to hide his eagerness when it came to having a "partnership" with him.

"Glad you enjoyed it. Is the audition over?" Red X asked, holding up two of the disks.

"Patience. Trust is easy to destroy but takes time to build. One last test and we'll meet to discuss your future," Slade ended the communication.

He busied himself modifying his robot double while he waited for Red X to strike again. Knowing where the chip was made it easy for him to send his robot double there.

Slade watched as his robot double approached Red X after the thief had grabbed the green chip.

"Excellent work," Slade congratulated.

John continued to speak to his son through the speaker.

"Honestly, I couldn't have done better myself," Slade continued.

"So, do we have a deal?" Red X asked.

"Indeed. You and I are so very much alike. It seems only natural that we should be partners," Slade extended his hand to take them.

"What are they for? I need to know what we're planning...partner," Red X held up the three computer microchips.

Slade nodded, "Patience. You can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away...can you, Robin?" His eye narrowed.

Red X's eyes widened in surprise. He'd been found out. A small net enveloped the chips, shot at Red X by a minion he didn't see, it formed a sphere and landed in Slade's hand. He stood there with an army of robot minions surrounding him.

Red X assumed a fighting stance.

The ceiling broke as the other Titans landed inside the building.

"Titans, go!" Cyborg shouted. Slade saw Cyborg grab Red X by the collar and he turned and ran out of the building.

Raven used her powers to throw one of Slade's larger robot minions aside. Cyborg grabbed Red X by his cape.

"Gocha!" Cyborg shouted.

Slade turned around and ran out of the building.

Making his way to the roof he continued running. He saw Robin in hot pursuit, still wearing his Red X costume but his mask was the mask he'd worn as Robin.

Slade led him over the rooftops, he leaped from building to building. Robin stayed on his heels. Robin fired one of his X-shaped shuriken and Slade chopped it in half with his fist.

"Interesting, at least this will be entertaining," Slade told him.

Slade turned around and leaped down to a large rooftop. He stood there, turning around, silently waiting for Robin to follow him.

Slade watched as Robin took a few steps back, running forward, he jumped over to the other building, landing on his feet, somersaulting to break his fall. He landed in a kneeling position.

Robin stood to his feet.

"Careful. I wouldn't want you getting hurt," Slade said stepping into Robin's view.

"I'm not the one who's going to get hurt. Now hand them over!" Robin shouted.

"Robin. I thought we had a deal," Slade said amicably.

"Sorry. I have a strict rule against giving stolen technology to psychos," Robin kept pace with him.

"How very noble of you. But stealing in order to trap me? That wasn't so noble. Two wrongs don't make a—" Slade lectured him, it felt ironic but contrary to what the rumors said, John, did not wish for him to become like him. To be little more than a hired thug was a waste of his talents.

John had created his criminal empire and reputation to protect Dick from the Court of Owls, so far, the Court did not suspect that "Slade" was John Grayson.

The need for an apprentice was merely a ruse for John to use Dick's skills to cripple the Court of Owls.

Slade watched as Robin gestured at him, wiping away his words with a motion of his hand.

"Don't ever lecture me! Whatever you're planning, Slade, it's over!"

Slade backed up. "On the contrary, Robin. It's just begun."

Robin, still in his Red X costume launched a flurry of punches and kicks at him. Robin tried to kick him but Slade stepped back, avoiding the kick.

Slade executed a sidekick, but Robin performed a backflip, avoiding the blow. Slade kicked him back.

Slade avoided two of Robin's strikes.

Robin shot a pair of Xs at him, Slade leaped back avoiding them.

Robin rushed him again but Slade kicked him, sending him sprawling across the roof.

Robin climbed to his feet and charged Slade again. Slade backed around the corner.

Slade easily dodged Robin's attempts to lunge at him. Slade executed a high kick, knocking Robin off his feet. Robin stumbled and fell but he rolled to his feet. Robin backflipped and avoided another strike.

Slade avoided Robin's kick and backed away. Slade stepped forward, struck at him, Robin avoided the punch. Robin jumped back and leaped at him, trying to slam his fist into his gut.

Slade caught his fist and elbowed him in the stomach. He threw Robin across the roof. Robin stumbled, screaming, he collided with some boxes. He went over the ledge of the roof.

Slade watched as Robin held onto the ledge by his fingertips. The concrete broke under his weight and he plummeted towards the street below.

Slade grabbed his wrist and held him there.

"You…saved me?" Robin asked, shocked.

"I'm not through with you," Slade said his voice was cold as space.

He threw Robin up to the ledge. Robin landed on the metal support and launched himself at Slade.

Performing a handspring, Robin kicked at Slade, sweeping his feet to knock Slade off balance.

Robin lunged at Slade again, the villain dodged and Robin jumped behind Slade, launching himself at Slade, hitting him in the gut, knocking the microchips out of his hand.

Slade's body bounced back against the side of the roof. The supervillain sat there.

Robin ripped off Slade's mask, "This ends now!"

"Patience, Robin. We'll meet face to face some other time," Slade leaned into the camera, "Oh, and speaking of time..."

The timer reappeared and began counting down, Robin jumped away from Slade's robot double. It exploded.

Slade smiled. "Well done. Just have to wait for the Khronoton Detonator to get here."

Slade tapped into the security camera on the rooftop where the Titans stood.

"At least he didn't get the chips," Beast Boy said. Then the Titans left the roof.

* * *

Slade traveled to New Mexico, he had another mercenary contract given to him by Christoph. Just one more job to deal with before his fake Khronoton Detonator was ready to be used against the Teen Titans.

Slade took a job in New Mexico, and his first step was to get himself caught by the police.

So he held up a liquor store in costume. There was an undercover cop that pulled his gun and shot him.

"I can't believe I got him, Robin's arch-nemesis!" the undercover cop shouted.

Slade succumbed to the gunshot wound, taken out by an off-duty cop. He smiled, just what he wanted.

He was imprisoned in Kamen Maximum Security Prison. They chained his hands behind his back, using a metahuman collar that was supposed to make it harder for him to escape.

Slade never said much to the inmates. He did find the guy that did tattoos.

"What's your name?" Slade asked.

"David Coates, they call me "Tipper"," David replied.

"You do prison tattoos?" Slade asked.

"Yeah, what do you want?" David asked.

"I'll give you three soups for a tattoo of Robin's symbol on my shoulder," Slade said.

"You're his arch-nemesis, right? That an insult to get his symbol as your tat?" David asked.

"Just a reminder of why I do what I do," Slade told him. He handed him the soups.

David used the makeshift tattoo gun to draw Robin's symbol on Slade's right shoulder.

"Where you from, David?" Slade asked.

"Gotham City," he replied.

"Really, did you ever see either of them?" Slade was curious.

"No, but Batman was always the boogieman. I do know of a guy named Thomas Carbone that ran guns, Batman and Robin shut his operation down," David replied.

"I see."

Slade didn't say anything for several hours but David did finish the tattoo of Robin's symbol.

"You're a long way from home," Slade noted.

"I got transferred after I got busted for selling drugs."

"I see, you do good work," Slade said, regarding the tattoo.

"Didn't expect that from you," David told him.

"I can be amicable when I want to be," Slade told him.

"Wilson, they're escorting you to court," the officer told him. They cuffed him in his metahuman handcuffs.

They began walking out of the prison.

"You know, Wilson—you kind of remind me of this quarterback I used to like. He was one of those all-time greats—broke every record, won every award…guy was a damn near legend. Instead of going out on top, he kept playing…way past his prime. And even though he could make most of those throws…he wasn't anything close to what he used to be. By the time he retired…he was mediocre at best—a shell of his former self. And as you can imagine, became a huge disappointment. Why?"

Warden Templeton puffed on his cigar.

"Because no matter who he used to be, he'd always be remembered for what he became. A broken old man who didn't know when to hang it up."

Warden Templeton smiled, "Which is why I laughed when you finally went down. Mr. Big Bad Deathstroke—taken out by an off-duty cop. You have to admit—it's an ending fitting for a "shell"."

"Unless it's actually a beginning," Slade told him. Slade used the paperclip he had smuggled into the prison and quickly picked the locks of his metahuman cuffs.

Warden Templeton's eyes widened.

"No! he's going to—" the warden shouted.

But Slade had already picked his cuffs and used the cuffs to cause the bullet fired at him to ricochet back at the guard.

"Oh Warden Templeton—" Slade began.

Slade slammed the other end of the chain into another guard and strangled the second guard, wrapping the chain around his neck.

"—We went to a lot of trouble getting me in here to kill you. Which means we should at least have some fun together, right?"

Slade threw a screw at the guard. It embedded itself into the wall.

"Missed. Ha. You missed!" the guard taunted.

"I don't," Slade said as rushed the guard and slammed his elbow through his helmet shattering his teeth.

Slade chased down Warden Templeton.

"Think— _think_ this through, Slade. We're in a prison built to hold metahumans if you kill me you've got no way out of here!" Warden Templeton pleaded he pressed himself into the corner of the wall.

"Hrrrrrr," Slade began to regurgitate something out of his mouth.

"We're on lockdown! Nothing short of a massive explosion is going to get you out of…here…" he stared in horror as the mercenary regurgitated a bomb and held it in his hand.

Slade bent Warden Templeton's head back, forced his mouth open, and shoved the explosive inside.

"Funny," Slade agreed. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Take care, Warden—"

"Mrrrm, mrrrm!" Warden Templeton's muffled voice tried to speak.

Slade Ran away from the explosion, "—it's been a blast!"

Slade made his escape after the explosion cleared. He got into the airplane where Christoph was waiting for him.

"So you put an explosive in his mouth…and blew out the sidewall?" Christoph asked.

"That's what I said, Christoph," Slade explained to his middleman.

'Anything else you want noted?" Christoph asked.

"Make sure that it gets out that the "arrest" was part of an infiltration. We don't want people thinking otherwise."

"Of course we don't," Christoph agreed.

"Square up payment for today. Get word out about the arrest. Then take a trip," Slade suggested.

"What?" Christoph was surprised.

"If you feel yourself slipping…that won't be good for any of us," Slade turned away from him. Slade grabbed his parachute.

Slade glanced at Christoph. "I've been pushing too hard, take a break."

"Uh…are you sure you're feeling okay?" Christoph asked in confusion.

"I'm fine, Christoph…" Slade leaped out of the airplane. "Never better."

* * *

Slade sat on a chair inside an abandoned church in Michigan. He threw another knife at the dartboard he had set up. Another bullseye, a perfect shot.

"Hello, Sweetie," a woman's voice spoke behind him. "I got what you wanted, the information on John Wycliffe. You made me go to Gotham City."

She was a Russian woman with dark hair, she had three scars across her face and she was blind in her left eye. If not for the scars, she'd be considered beautiful. She was a spy, informant, a mercenary like him.

"Angelica, what are you doing here?" Slade asked in Russian, he sighed.

"I came to see you, of course, you've been running me ragged, searching for this mythical cabal of yours and finding all these secure sites that you want to break into," Angelica moved closer to him.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I've worked hard, I think it's time I played hard too," she tried to take off the mask and kiss him.

John gripped her wrist and shoved her away. "You need to stay focused. If I want something I'll tell you, and I'm in no mood to play hard."

"You won't even have me for fun, it doesn't have to be anything," Angelica sighed.

"I pay you to be my spy, not my hooker," Slade turned away from her. "Now leave me alone, or I will end our contract right now, and if you keep insisting on playing hard, I might just kill you for ticking me off, understood?"

"Of course, Sweetie, I understand completely," Angelica nodded.

Angelica left and Slade was alone. John sighed. The last thing he wanted was her attention.

"What do you want?" Slade snapped as he heard footsteps behind him.

"It's Alex. Your fake Khronoton Detonator is done and it's in Pier 41. All you need to do is go back to Jump City," Alex informed him.

"Richard, it's time you come home, son," Slade smiled to himself. "I even made you a uniform. Your mother would say it's rather tacky and has no statement to it, but it'll do for now, I'm sure you'd rather wear it than a Talon uniform. I won't soil your mother's handiwork by making you steal in it. Although she'd be amused by you stealing things, considering her crime spree in Paris."

Slade smiled at his son's image. "You're the reason I've done all this, and you'll do as I say. You and I have been apart for far too long and…I miss you."

Slade clenched his fists.

"If it weren't for us being on opposite sides, I'd tell you how proud I am of you. But if you find out the truth, it'll ruin what we used to have, so you can't find out anything. I don't want you to hate me more than you already do."

He shook his head; he had to get the sentimentality out now, so he could be cold and uncaring in person. John took a deep breath, inhaling to calm his disturbed emotions.

"It's always been about you, and it always will be. I'll give you a call at five in the morning, then everything will begin."

Slade took out a circus throwing knife and threw it at the dartboard. It hit the bullseye. The two men left the building and flew back to Jump City.

John slept for a few hours; his mind was a jumble of images and disturbing memories.

He woke up and washed his face. Grabbing an apple from the fridge in his lair he ate most of it, leaving just enough for him to still be hungry.

"Full stomach makes an empty head and up there, a person's got to have his wits about him," John said to himself. This was the advice he'd given Dick as a child and advice he still followed even though he had shed his old life as a circus artist. He wasn't going to get sloppy now.

John dressed in his costume and placed the mask over his face. He drove to Pier 41 and stood before the video camera. He pushed a button to call Titans Tower.

"Good morning, Teen Titans. I do hope I didn't wake you," Slade greeted them.


	7. Apprentice Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin becomes Slade's apprentice but instead of fighting the Titans, Slade takes him on his mercenary jobs. Robin discovers something about Slade he doesn't expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that has always bothered me about these "Robin is Slade's apprentice for longer than canon" fanfics is that people tend to turn Robin into an angst machine, constantly freaking out mentally that he'll turn into Slade. This is a character that was forced to join the Court of Owls as Nightwing in the comics and had no problem whatsoever with mouthing off to a criminal cabal. So I don't buy all these angst fics of Robin freaking out while with Slade. If anything, he's defiant to the end when it comes to being stuck with Slade and only backs down when he threatened to kill the Titans again. So anyone expecting an angst-ridden Robin Apprentice arc isn't going to get it here.
> 
> Another thing I hate is that those apprentice arc fics tend to drag Robin through misery for the entire thing and none of the authors I see give him a way out. This fanfic is not your typical Robin Misery Porn Apprentice Arc. This will be a short arc, there will be no wangst. Thank you and enjoy. Some of the dialogue is taken from Kyle Higgins' Deathstroke comic run, I preferred his Nightwing run over his work on Deathstroke.

"Good morning, Teen Titans. I hope I didn't wake you," Slade greeted them.

"What are you, an insomniac? Who calls at five in the morning—?" Beast Boy asked as he yawned. Raven elbowed him.

"What do you want?" Robin demanded.

Well, that's precisely what you've been trying to find out, isn't it? And in spite of all your efforts, you're still in the dark about my intentions," Slade glanced at Robin. "Disappointing, Robin. I expected a little more from you."

Slade saw Robin, turn away, an angry expression on his face. Robin composed himself, "Like I care what you—"

"But since you've been unable to discover my plan, I suppose I'll just have to reveal it myself," Slade gestured with his hand.

Two minions removed a cloth revealing the Khronoton Detonator. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of a Khronoton Detonator."

"No!" Cyborg shouted. Starfire let out a gasp.

"Uh-oh," Raven said.

"No way!" Beast Boy shouted. He then turned to Starfire, "Um, what's a crouton detonator?"

"It eradicates all Khronotons within a localized area, utterly destroying the temporal component of the space-time continuum," Starfire explained.

"Hmm?" Beast Boy uttered, still confused.

"It stops time, permanently," Raven explained.

Beast Boy shrieked and fainted.

"Tell me where!" Robin shouted, enraged.

"You're a clever boy, Robin. I'm sure you and your little friends can figure it out," Slade held up the detonator in his hand. "However, since I control the detonation, time is not on your side."

Slade ended the transmission.

He watched as the Titans made their way through the sewers. Slade had delayed them with his robots but didn't even bother using cameras on them since they would be destroyed rather quickly. But he did notice that there was some friction between the teens when Robin mentioned something about earlier.

Still, the other Titans weren't his concern. Slade had sent Cinderblock to deliver his whereabouts to Robin and his son's arrival was all he cared about.

"Hurry, young Titans, your time is running out," Slade said, keeping his hands folded behind his back, staring at the screen as the other Teen Titans battled with his robot minion on the boat with the Khronoton Detonator.

The door exploded and Robin stood in the doorway.

John felt the thrill go down his spine.

"Actually, we've just gone into overtime," Robin said, anger in his voice.

"Robin, welcome, I've been expecting you for quite some time, I was beginning to wonder if Cinderblock was too much of a challenge." Slade greeted him with genuine politeness and just a hint of pleasure in the tone of his voice.

"Looking for this?" Slade asked, holding up the trigger, waving it in Robin's face. He placed it down on the floor under the spotlight. "Well…here it is. If you want it…come and take it."

Slade watched as Robin bared his teeth in a silent snarl and charged forward. He watched as Robin leaped up and executed a somersault that turned into a leap at him.

Slade blocked the blow and threw Robin across the room. Robin managed to land on his feet and leaped at the detonator, Slade executed a flying kick, knocking Robin backward.

"You always keep looking forward and don't even bother to look back at me!" Slade reprimanded him. John sighed mentally, how many times had he lectured his son about this mentality of his? All these years and he was still the same.

Slade landed on his feet. "Come now, Robin. You'll have to do better than that. I haven't even broken a sweat."

Slade rushed at Robin, leaping up in the air, and allowing himself a backflip that turned into a powerful spinning kick that slammed into Robin's face.

Throwing a punch, Slade swept his foot out, trying to knock Robin off his feet. He somersaulted forward, bringing his foot down. Robin blocked the kick and threw a punch. He missed but Robin blocked Slade's kick with his booted foot and blocked another kick.

Slade kicked Robin in the face.

Robin gritted his teeth in rage and Slade struck at him. Robin avoided the blows.

Slade avoided Robin's kicks to the chest and the ankle sweep his son executed to try to knock him off his feet. Slade struck at him with a vicious punch.

Slade saw him somersault back and John couldn't help but be pleased that he incorporated the acrobatics he'd taught him into his fighting style, but he still wasn't strong enough to face what John had to fight. John also had double his experience in combat because he'd been fighting since Dick was born.

Robin launched himself at Slade, trying to land a punch, but Slade blocked it easily, bending his arm at a 90-degree angle, he used a throw to send him flying back into the wall.

John heard him scream in pain.

Robin bounced off the wall and staggered, falling to his knees.

"Good, but not perfect," Slade crossed his arms.

_It seems I don't know my own strength thanks to the Electrum in my blood. I don't want to break him. I'm not a sadist; it's not worth it if I have to wait for his broken arm to heal. The Court of Owls never injected you with Electrum to make him immortal like they did to me._

Robin climbed to his feet, clenching his fists in rage, he charged forward, running quickly, and leaping up into the air with a scream.

In his anger, he left himself wide open for Slade's fist as he slammed his fist into his stomach. Slade saw the spit fly out of Robin's mouth. Robin wheezed as Slade moved his fist back, letting Robin collapse on the ground, breathless.

John merely looked at him, laughter would be sadistic and cruel and he wasn't sadistic. John merely waited to see what Dick would do.

Slade took a step towards him.

Robin pounded his fist into the dirt and let out an angry grunt.

"I understand your frustration Robin, you hate losing as much as I do. One of the many qualities we have in common," Slade folded his arms behind his back.

Slade heard Robin's angry scream as Robin leaped up from the ground and struck Slade in his masked face.

 _Not bad, Dick, you continue to surprise me,_ John thought as he felt the blows through his mask, the Promethium metal was durable, but the blows did hurt.

Slade accepted the vicious blows to the face as Robin struck him over and over.

Slade rolled to his feet and staggered back as Robin punched him in the gut again and again. Slade accepted more blows to the face.

Suddenly, Robin executed a backflip that kicked Slade in his masked face, causing his back to arc as Robin kicked him in the face, sending him bouncing across the floor.

 _Not bad, champ, not bad,_ John congratulated him. _Just what I was expecting from you. You'll be my greatest asset against the Court of Owls._

Slade looked up and saw Robin step behind the trigger, bend down and pick it up. "It's over, Slade!"

Slade watched as the trigger fell apart in Robin's hands.

"On the contrary, Robin..." Slade stood up and folded his arms behind his back, "…This is only the beginning."

"Where's the real trigger?" Robin demanded.

"Trigger. There is no trigger because there is no detonator," Slade explained.

Robin's eyes widened as Slade turned on a monitor. Slade showed him the vital signs of the other Teen Titans.

"Nanoscopic probes. The Khronoton Detonator was merely the bait for a much larger trap," Slade explained. A device extended from his wrist, it was a trigger that he could hold in his hand, it had a single button. "with the push of a button... my probes will destroy your friends from the inside out."

"You can't control them. No matter what you threaten, they'll never obey you," Robin said in defiance.

"This isn't about your friends, Robin. It's about you. It's always been about you," Slade began to pace around the room.

"What?" Robin asked, stunned.

"Sending trouble your way. Leaving cryptic clues for you to unravel. I was testing you. For some time now, I have been searching for an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps." Slade leaned into Robin's face, "And Robin, I've chosen you. Congratulations."

"No way would I ever work for—" Robin protested vehemently.

"If you join me, if you swear to serve me, I will allow them to live," Slade told him simply.

Slade watched as Robin's eyes widen in fear. John could see Dick looking at the screen with the other Titans' vital signs. He walked in front of the screen and turned to Dick.

"But...if you disobey even the smallest request, I will annihilate them, Robin. And I'll make you watch." Slade clenched his fist, "So, do we have a deal?"

"I'll make this deal, but you'll keep your promise not to hurt them if I do what you say," Robin said, his voice was filled with dread.

"Do a few chores for me and I'll keep my word completely," Slade told him. "Now deactivate your locator signal and suit up in this, that outfit doesn't suit me. Much too bright and…colorful."

Robin flinched and gave him a strange look at his choice of words. But he changed into the uniform Slade had given him.

"Robin? Robin, please respond! Robin, please. You must answer. Robin! Please respond! Robin, where are you?" Starfire's voice pleaded with him through the comm in Robin's belt.

John knew that this girl loved Dick. She didn't need to say it. He knew it in the worry and concern in her voice and he did his best to block it out. He didn't need to be reminded of what he didn't have.

Robin slipped the shirt on and strapped on the neckplate and the arm guards. He replaced the mask he'd worn with a mask that had the design of Slade's one visible eye on it. It was not a mask that covered his face like Slade's.

Slade walked away from him. He turned to face Robin.

"For your first assignment, break into Power's Hotel. There is a guest by the name of John Wycliffe, use this software, and this external hard drive to copy the information on his laptop, make sure he's not available during this time."

"You want me to kill him?" Robin asked.

"Deal with him how you see fit," Slade told him.

Robin turned and left.

Robin snuck into Powers Hotel. Slade had sent out his minions to Wayne Enterprises, keeping the Titans distracted.

Slade watched through security cameras as Robin slipped into John Wycliffe's hotel room and used chloroform to knock the man out and copied the man's laptop hard drive. He then uninstalled the program and left the hotel. Returning after several hours.

"Excellent, Robin, I'm pleased. You're already proving to be the perfect apprentice," Slade praised him.

"This deal can't last forever," Robin gazed up as Slade spoke to him.

"Of course not, apprenticeships always end when the apprentice learns all the master has to teach. I'm not some stupid villain; I know that if you kick a dog the dog will bite back. The fewer confrontations you have with your friends the better it will be."

Slade began extracting the data on John Wycliffe from the external hard drive.

"Sooner or later, you will let your guard down, I will get that controller, and as soon as they're out of danger you will pay!" Robin spat out the threat with venom.

"That sounds like a threat young man. Quite a good threat, actually. Betrayal, destruction, revenge. I know those feelings all too well," Slade told him.

"What, you're not going to antagonize me?" Robin snapped.

"I know that pushing your buttons leads you to rebel against me, and there are things I need you to do, and you won't be obedient if I keep antagonizing you." Slade glanced at him, "You'd beat me to death if you lost your temper. I heard a story about you, that you beat the Joker to death because you lost your temper. Batman resuscitated him, but he didn't take it well at all. He was always worried you'd, "go too far", then sometime later, Joker shot you, and he took you off the streets and then you left."

"Joker threatened Batgirl, she's my friend, I had to stop him, but I did lose my temper and went too far, but that was a mistake I'm never making again," Robin told him.

Robin crossed his arms.

"You shot my friends full of Nanoscopic probes, you can kill them by pushing a button, I want them to live, that's the only reason I'm doing what you say."

John let himself smile beneath his mask. "I just need you to do some simple tasks, a little on the shady side, but once these chores are done, you can go back to your friends, and I'll deactivate the probes. Disobey me and you won't like what you see."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Robin asked.

Slade laughed, "Of course not! I'm a criminal, criminals are notorious liars. Everything about me is a lie. But if anyone can give me a second chance it's you."

Robin frowned. "I was expecting you to say you'd become a father to me."

"I lost the right to be called a father a long time ago. From what I know about you, your father is dead. And that the Dark Knight is like a father to you."

"So you figured out my secret identity, huh? Why not cash in on it?" Robin asked.

"Some things are too valuable to cash in on, besides, who you are doesn't interest me, other than your talents," Slade replied.

"What'd we ever do that made you hate us?" Robin said.

"Not you, others," Slade said. "Your work is done for tonight, take a break."

"Yes…master," Robin spat out the words with hatred.

"No need to call me that, I was forced to do that, I hated it, I'd rather us be partners, if anything," Slade said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "To think you were so _eager_ last time."

"I wanted to know what you were planning, but you figured it out," Robin said, staring at him.

"Your eagerness was your undoing," Slade nodded.

"I don't know what you're planning, but let me make this clear: I will _not_ murder or rape anyone for you. Do you understand?" Robin said, giving him a hard look.

"The murder part I understand, but why'd you bring up _rape_ of all things?" Slade asked.

"Just letting you know what _my_ limits are, that's the deal I'm offering you, if you're making me work for you, I will have a say in what I do. You keep saying you want us to be _partners_ ," Robin scowled.

"Rape is bad for my business, I'm a mercenary, not an idiot, no one will trust me if I don't do my job. I'm hired to murder people, _not_ rape them. You'd never cross those lines, of course, you're too good for that," Slade said. "I'm not such a nice guy myself, but I still have my code of honor that I follow. It's not nearly as rigid as yours but I'm not some psychotic pervert."

"There's a bedroom, get some sleep," Slade ordered.

Robin left him and Slade was alone.

"Good work, Dick, this is what I need, access to Samantha Vanaver's companies and dummy corporations," John smiled. "That's my boy."

* * *

Robin woke the next day, showered, and dressed. Slade watched him walk out and eat the cereal he'd set out for him. It was cornflakes. That didn't seem like a big deal to civilians but John did know that his son was very fond of cereal, especially cornflake pizza.

John noticed his puzzled expression as Robin ate. He didn't say anything.

"I have a job, you're coming too, Robin," Slade said as he exited his lair.

They boarded a fancy airplane.

"So what do you do when you're not trying to blow up my city?" Robin asked.

"I'm a mercenary, I do things for money. It's not complicated."

"What do you think you are? A knight in shining armor?" Robin scowled.

"No, of course not. If I think like that we can fly straight to Gotham City and you can take me to Arkham Asylum personally," Slade laughed. "A knight cannot save the world. Knights call some methods of fighting good and others evil, acting as if there were some sacred nobility to the battlefield. Such illusions created by heroes throughout history have led countless young men to their bloody deaths, all for the sake of this honor and glory they extol. I'm a mercenary, not a knight. At the end of the day, you can't eat glory."

Slade tossed up a throwing knife and began juggling it, to Robin's surprise.

Robin sat inside a fancy airplane, staring out of the window. He turned to look at Slade.

"Why do you keep trying to destroy Jump city?" Robin asked.

"I have no intention of destroying the city; on the contrary, I need the city as much as you do. There are only certain people in the city I wish to destroy," Slade said.

"What happened to you that made you so horrible?" Robin demanded.

Slade began to tell him a story, "A farmer comes home one day to find that everything that gives meaning to his life is gone. Crops are burned, animals slaughtered, bodies and broken pieces of his life strewn about. Everything that he loved taken from him - his children. One can only imagine the pit of despair, the hours of Job-like lamentations, the burden of existence. He makes a promise to himself in those dark hours. A life's work erupts from his knotted mind. Years go by. His suffering becomes complicated. One day he stops - the farmer who is no longer a farmer - sees the wreckage he's left in his wake. It is now he who burns, he who slaughters, and he knows in his heart he must pay."

"Where are we going?" Robin asked.

"Moscow, Russia. I've got some business there," Slade told him.

"You keep an eye out, I'll take care of business," Slade told him. Robin knew that Slade didn't want him involved in his mercenary business, which seemed rather backward for someone that wanted him to follow in his footsteps.

Slade approached a Russian mobster with a group of bodyguards.

Slade spoke in Russian, "To everyone that's not Elsey Kopnek, do the smart thing and head back to whatever whorehouse you spend your nights, before I cut off your reason to go there."

Elsey Kopnek smiled smugly at Slade, "Strength in numbers, Mr. Wilson. And I must say, in this instance—both appear to be on our side, would you not agree? There's an interesting name they have for you in the criminal underworld. You have some kind of divine mandate to kill for a living. They call you God's Assassin, Saint Guillotine."

"I am nothing more than a bayonet, a bayonet wielded by the hand of God, God has made me a merchant of death, so whether you have the strength in numbers, No—I wouldn't agree with you," Slade replied.

Slade held a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. He leaped into the group of bodyguards, swinging his sword around, he'd already taken off Elsey Kopnek's head, along with the guard standing directly behind the mercenary.

He sliced the neck of another guard, watching the blood spurt from the man's throat as he grabbed the nearest guard, he used him as a human shield while shooting the guard closest to the one he had just grabbed.

Slade effortlessly slaughtered the rest of them. He made his way back to Robin.

"Don't feel guilty, they were bad people, Robin," Slade told him.

"It doesn't matter, you don't have the right to kill them over something as trivial as money," Robin told him.

"It was written in the book of Destiny that they would die by my hand and you can't change that," Slade said.

"There's no such thing as destiny, it doesn't exist," Robin told him.

"I have met Destiny, he's a strange fellow, he really doesn't like me being here, apparently, I went way off-book," Slade sighed.

"How would you be able to do that?" Robin asked, genuinely curious.

"The dead will sometimes see the Endless, but most of the time, they see Death, I died once, I should have stayed dead, but someone else had other plans for me. That's why I'm here," Slade shrugged.

"Enough of the idle chit-chat, I have another job," Slade gestured for Robin to follow.

They arrived at a club, a man said that Slade was there to guard the entrance. Slade and Robin stood by, watching people go in and out of the club.

"I thought bodyguarding was beneath you," Robin frowned.

"I get paid generously. My reputation has made it possible. This bothers you doesn't it, considering what happened to your parents," Slade looked at him.

"I'm guarding the Russian mob. Mobsters, they're all the same, they kill without caring. When Tony Zucco killed my parents, he was smiling that night. It meant that their deaths meant as much to him as stepping on ants on the sidewalk."

After several hours, they finished their guard duty.

"I'm off the clock now, off to our next job. Come, Robin, we must keep moving," Slade said. He met Christoph at a hotel.

Christoph stared in surprise at Robin, "Eh, Teen Wonder, what are you doing here? Looking for a new line of work?"

"Don't mind him, he works for me now," Slade told him. "What job do you have for me?"

"Deathstroke the Terminator—the scariest badass on the planet. A metahuman who goes after the toughest targets. Who takes the impossible jobs because he can _do_ the impossible. Strength and speed all enhanced…And a master strategist. Yeah….a major damn badass. Five guys or fifty-five, it doesn't matter. Everyone knows you take care of business, it's what you're good at. It's why you get paid what you get paid—even just to bodyguard. So with that in mind, Slade…you're gonna love this job that just came in," Christoph told him.

Slade sat in a chair, Robin sat beside him.

"Save the sales pitch, Christoph. What is it?" Slade asked.

"A little assassination and recovery—with a twist," Christoph told him.

"That's it?" Slade asked, irritated.

Christoph stood to his feet, "Hey, this is big—as impossible as it gets. It'll be a five-man gig, with the others acting as support. They're up-and-comers. A bit green, but with a lot of potential."

"I'm sorry?" Slade grew even more irritated.

Christoph rose to his feet, straightening his tie. "Look, if you're not interested, or if you think you can't cut it…"

A fly flew towards Christoph. Slade took a paperclip and threw it at the fly, slicing it in half. Christoph's eyes widened in shock.

"So…?" Christoph asked.

"So I hope this is worthwhile, for your sake Christoph," Slade warned him.

Slade took Robin with him to the warehouse where they were supposed to meet this support team.

Slade saw a bunch of teenagers eating fast food and drinking soda and alcohol.

"What the Hell is this?" Slade asked, angry.

A pretty young woman extended her hand to Slade, "I'm April. Weapons and ammo. That's Quinn and Hughes—Communications and transport."

"You're a bunch of kids," Slade growled in irritation.

"And Gotham's Laughing Daredevil isn't?" April asked. "Interesting to see you've left the reservation. Looking for a new job?"

"It's temporary," Robin scowled. He was shocked when Slade didn't correct him.

"And sharpshooting. Everyone forgets I sharpshoot," Hughes said.

"We're the Alpha Dawgs," Hughes said simply, explaining the name of their group, "Dawg."

"And people think _my_ codename is stupid!" Robin scowled, he face-palmed.

As much as John loathed murder, he really wanted to off these brats free of charge, treating this like a game. As much as he hated his new job, he always took it seriously.

"Told you the name sucked," Quinn mocked.

"Right, 'cause Harmory is so much better," Hughes retorted.

"Harm Armory. You gotta say it right," Quinn shot back.

"Damn it, Christoph," Slade growled.

Slade walked off. Robin leaned against the wall, folding his arms, resting against it.

"You people are taking this too lightly. He doesn't like competition, after this job of yours is done, you're all dead," Robin warned them.

The teenagers laughed at him, Quinn voiced their thoughts, "You're exaggerating. He's a scary dude but we've stayed on his good side."

"He doesn't have a good side," Robin warned them.

Slade turned and looked at Robin.

"Robin follow me, I'll get you some dinner," Slade said.

They headed to a fancy restaurant in Moscow, Robin was surprised that there was an American steak restaurant there.

"Get whatever you want," Slade told him.

Robin got the steak. He ate and didn't say much. After all, what did they have to talk about besides, "work".

"Tell me, Robin, why should I let them live? They're competition," Slade asked. "And they annoy me."

"They're just a bunch of stupid teenagers, it's not like they can win in a fight against you. Or are you actually afraid of a bunch of teenagers that I could wipe the floor within one minute?" Robin said.

"Heh," Slade laughed.

"They're teenagers, they're supposed to be a pain in the butt," Robin said.

Slade laughed, "Really? How do you know that?"

"It's something my mom used to say," Robin sighed. "Why I'm telling you, I don't know."

 _How like your mother you are, if only you had her flexible morality too,_ John sighed mentally.

Robin forced himself to eat. He'd grown used to eating fancy food at Wayne Manor but he wasn't thinking about that. He missed his friends and he'd much rather eat pizza with them than fancy steak dinners with Slade.

"You're not eating?" Robin asked, sitting in the fancy restaurant.

"I'm not hungry," Slade said. He watched the teenager eat.

A Russian woman sat down beside them.

"Go away, Angelica, I'm in no mood for a friendly visit," Slade scowled.

"Well, you're no fun, Sweetie" Angelica pouted. "But I did get the location of the chemicals you need for that Doctor Leviticus. I've worked hard, how about we play hard?"

"Somebody's thirsty," Robin smirked, "Sweetie."

"Not in the mood, Angelica, I'll send you your payment for your job later," Slade watched her leave.

"I'm surprised you turned her down. You'd be the type to have a one-night stand. Then again, you don't have any friends," Robin said, smirking.

"I don't mix business and pleasure, women are a distraction," Slade glanced at him. "You said it yourself, Robin. I don't have any friends."

"You don't need to be friends for a one-night stand," Robin continued eating.

John steepled his hands, "You've always wanted to know who I am, and I have no intention of telling you that until you're ready to hear it, but I'll give you this one for free. There was a woman I loved. She was my life. My heart, she died."

"So you're not a complete monster," Robin scowled.

"If you'd met me eight years ago, I was the most normal person you'd ever meet," Slade told him.

Robin didn't say anything and continued eating.

"When the time is right, I'll tell you everything," Slade told Robin.

Robin looked at him, curious. "Really?"

"Yes, when I see fit. "I have a mission for you, before the Harm Armory job tomorrow."

"I see," Robin said, finishing his meal.

Slade folded his arms over his chest, "Because of the nature of this mission you're the only person I can ask. Will you agree to my request?"

Slade's tone was polite.

Robin moved to stand in front of Slade as the one-eyed mercenary sat on a chair.

"This is not like you," Robin said sarcastically, giving him a wicked smile. "You should cut all the polite crap and order me to do your bidding like you always do."

"This is very important Robin. Samantha Vanaver has a house in Moscow. She has houses all over the globe. Go break into Samantha Vanaver's house and steal her jewelry, that's all."

"Something that petty, that's funny," Robin laughed.

"If it makes you feel better I also want the information on her computer," Slade added.

Samantha Vanaver wasn't home, she lived in Jump City, but her mansion was still guarded by a security guard. Robin avoided him easily and slipped into the house without setting off the alarm.

Robin used a program that copied Samantha Vanaver's hard drive. He searched for her jewelry while the hard drive was copied onto an external hard drive Slade had given him.

Robin stopped and stared at the Jewelry in the box. Among the necklaces and bracelets was a small silver crucifix. Crucifixes are either a symbol of Christianity or just nice jewelry, but there was something Dick noticed about the crucifix, it was attached to a piece of cloth, a red scrap of cloth that didn't originally come with the crucifix.

It didn't mean a lot to most people, but Dick recognized it. It was a crucifix that belonged to his mother, he recognized the cloth as a scrap of circus costume. It was a good luck charm for circus performers to sew a crucifix into a costume. The saying was that if you wore it, God would find you if you died during a performance.

Dick moved the cloth as much as he could and did see his family's surname etched into the wood of the crucifix.

Why would Samantha Vanaver have something that belonged to his father? He remembered that his dad had come home one night and his mother had noticed it was missing, he claimed it had been torn off and he'd apologized to his mother. Dick hadn't given it a second thought until now.

Robin suddenly remembered: Rachel Vanaver.

He suspected that Rachel was his half-sister and that his father had an affair with Samantha Vanaver. Why was Slade interested in Samantha Vanaver? Did he want to threaten Rachel too?

Robin recalled why he had created the Red X costume, it had been a ruse to get close to Slade. If Slade did want to see him as a partner, that would mean telling him his plans eventually.

 _"When the time is right, I'll tell you everything,"_ Slade had told him.

Robin might be stuck in this situation, but he wouldn't wallow in it, he'd make do with being trapped in Slade's service. If Slade began to trust him, maybe he would tell him what his _real_ plans were.

Did Slade want him to find this? Why did he want him to find this and what was Samantha Vanaver's relationship with his father? Why did Slade care about it? He stuffed the jewelry into a bag, uninstalled the hard drive copying software from the computer, shut it off, and slipped out the window and into the night.

* * *

The next day, Slade and Robin met up with Christoph and the mercenaries of Harm Armory, Christoph had briefed them on his target.

"As far as objective go…this one is pretty straight-forward," Christoph began.

"Who's the target?" Hughes asked.

"Meet Jeffrey Bode—" Christoph continued the briefing. "—former German scientist and engineer turned arms dealer. He travels Europe in his private plane, which houses a veritable stockpile of weapons and munitions. His clients pay his way through customs at every spot."

"And on this particular trip, our client says Bode was delivering nuclear secrets to Iran. The client needs Bode dead with the nuclear secrets recovered.

"Weapons?" April asked.

Slade looked at her.

"Good—great. I'm excited! And I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking this could be the start of something pretty fantastic…"

"Right, we're getting close to our drop, Q-Dawg," Hughes said.

"Got thermals, 'Stroke-vision, and a sick playlist on the queue," Quinn replied.

"Let's rock and roll this sucka, Pops!" Quinn shouted.

"Stay with them, Robin, make sure they keep us steady," Slade ordered, glancing at him.

"I'm not going with you?" Robin was surprised.

"You'll only get in my way, champ," Slade said offhandedly.

"Need to get a little closer, I can't jump that far," Slade informed them. "What do you think I am? A flying angel?"

Robin watched him as he prepared to jump.

 _A flying angel? That was odd._ Robin felt his heart stop. _It couldn't be…_

Robin stared out the window. It seemed impossible, it had never crossed his mind before, that Slade could be a fake identity.

Slade heard Robin sigh. He wondered if he'd said too much.

"Ok. So I swapped out all your ammo for hollow-points, to avoid blowing a hole through the hull at forty-thousand feet. I know, I know you're more of an "armor-piercing" kind of guy, but trust me, you'll like the spray on these. As for the jump…I wasn't sure how far your "Metahumanness" extended, so I thought we'd err on the side of an oxygen mask and you being able to you know, breathe."

Slade headed towards the door, "Just stay out of my way."

"Somethin' wrong, Robin?" April asked.

"Nothing, you should quit this life for your own good," Robin warned them again.

"The Jump City papers are right, you are too uptight," Quinn taunted him.

"I know enough about him that I know he wants to kill you guys, and if I can't talk him out of it, maybe I can get you to quit before you're dead," Robin told them.

"We don't need you to save us, Robin," April told him. She smiled at him, "This is the kind of life I want to live."

"You can only save yourself, but I did warn you, the only person he wants to work with is me," Robin sighed.

 _You can't save everyone Dick, but you sure do try hard,_ Slade thought as he jumped out of the airplane. _Soon, Dick, I'll tell you everything very soon._

He turned his attention to the job at hand, time to kill his target, and get those nuclear secrets before they reached Iran. Slade leaped out of the plane and prepared to kill his target. This was going to be an interesting adventure.


	8. Apprentice Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade and Robin finish the job with Harm Armory as Robin manages to save the lives of the naive teenagers. Slade and Robin head to Rhapastan for another mercenary job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Used excerpts of Kyle Higgins Deathstroke and Deathstroke Annual 4 by Phil Hester.

_**16 Years Ago…** _

_John Grayson stood amid the Labyrinth of the Court of Owls. He stared up at Samantha Vanaver. “What would you have me do?”_

_Samantha Vanaver looked down at him, “Remove his hood and rip out his throat! Now, close your eyes little one.”_

_“No! I want to see,” the little girl said._

_John hesitated._

_“William, go to the Graysons’ trailer and bring me the boy,” Samantha Vanaver ordered._

_“Grandpa, please—don’t!” John pleaded. William Cobb began walking out of the Labyrinth._

_John couldn’t—wouldn’t allow that to happen._

_He held up the knife, “Sweet God, I don’t have a choice!”_

_John slit his predecessor, Alton Carver’s throat. The blood covered the circus throwing knife._

_The body dropped to the floor. John stared up at Samantha Vanaver._

_“Accompany me to the Powers’ Hotel. It’s time we celebrate your first step into what you were meant to be, John,” Samantha Vanaver smiled broadly._

_He only had one chance, one chance to end this. John removed the knife from his pouch and charged at her, he tried to stab Samantha Vanaver in the heart._

_Suddenly, hands grabbed him and pinned him down, forcing him to kneel._

_John did see the look in her eyes before she smirked. She tried to hide it, but he saw it: fear._

_She was afraid of him. She wasn’t invincible. John would kill her, he just tried too soon. He’d made a mistake to attempt it now. He wouldn’t make that mistake again._

_“So you_ _do_ _have it in you to kill. I’m going to punish you for disobeying me, don’t worry, your son will still live with you and your “wife”. Take him to Powers Hotel; I’m going to enjoy this! I always wanted to have you for myself.”_

_Samantha Vanaver bent down and found a crucifix; it was sewn into his circus uniform. They had made him wear the Talon uniform over his circus costume._

_The Grandmaster tore the crucifix from the uniform, leaving a hole where it had been._

_“God can’t save you from your fate, or save you from me!” Samantha Vanaver mocked. “I’ll keep this as my trophy! A way for me to remember that you belong to me, as you always have!”_

_“Drug him, you don’t have a choice in the matter, you belong to me now, no matter what you wish, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, you will fight at my side forever! You can’t escape me, even in death, I have power over death!” Samantha Vanaver gloated. “It may seem bad now, but trust me, you’ll learn to like it! You’re coming to bed with me, whether you like it or not!”_

_John felt the needle pierce his neck. His body felt heavy and his eyes shut, but the look he gave his tormenter sent her the message: He would kill her, no matter what it took._

_He was now in his own personal Hell, and there would be no escape. Not even in death._

_If God will not give me the mercy of death, if I must live in this Hell, then let me become Providence itself, let me have my vengeance._ _I want nothing more than to be a bayonet. A bayonet wielded by the hand of God. If the Court of Owls can transform me into such a thing, then am happy to abandon my humanity, God will give me vengeance._

 _These were his last thoughts before consciousness left him._

* * *

_S_ lade leaped out from the transport airplane and onto his target’s aircraft. He used his sword to slice open the door.

“Pilot’s making adjustments, ‘Stroke,” Quinn told him. “Do whatever you’re going to do fast!”

Slade tore the door off and let it go flying away.

“Whoa! Did you just tear a door off at five hundred miles an hour?” Quinn asked.

“Yes,” Slade replied.

“Holy crap,” Quinn exclaimed.

“What exactly does this guy sell again?” Slade asked as he made his way inside the plane.

“He’s an arms dealer. Guns, ammo, missiles, you know, arms,” Quinn replied.

“Then we got bad information,” Slade informed them.

A group of creatures that resembled the Batman villain Clayface was waiting for him, including his target Jeffrey Bode.

“Looks like our arms dealer prefers “biological” weapons,” Slade noted. 

“What does that mean?” Quinn asked.

“Soldiers modified with Clayface D.N.A.,” Slade explained, “Tough to kill.”

“Got any other ideas?” Quinn asked.

Slade decapitated one of the Clayface soldiers. The other soldier lunged at him but he kicked it out the window, throwing the decapitated Clayface soldier after him. 

“Oh, that’s much better,” Slade told them.

“Very impressive, I didn’t think you’d make it this far,” Jeffrey Bode told him.

Slade shot him and took the suitcase from him. He turned and headed towards the exit. 

“Uh, we’re running out of time here, ‘Stroke,” Quinn reminded him. “Pilots just hit twenty thousand feet, plant the bomb and get out!”

“Sharpshootin’ on, brothas!” Hughes shouted, he fired a grappling hook that Slade would use to get back to the plane.

“Not terrible,” Slade told himself as he finished his work.

Just as Slade left the plane, it exploded. 

The group returned to their hideout. The others offered Robin alcohol but he refused. 

“I propose a toast to the Harm Armory. Getting’ paid to bring the pain!” Hughes toasted in excitement.

“Hells, yeah!” Quinn agreed. They were smiling and celebrating their success.

“So what’s next?” April asked.

“Well, we can start throwing a bunch of work your way if you’re interested,” Christoph replied.

“Oh, we’re in,” April replied.

“Definitely,” Hughes agreed.

Christoph held up his glass of wine, “So what do you think of the “up-and-coming” team, Slade?”

Robin had been watching him the entire time; he’d been preparing to spray them full of bullets out of annoyance. This would be his only chance to talk Slade out of murking the unsuspecting teens.

“There’s no “up-and-coming”. There’s only competition. And I _don’t_ work with it,” Slade raised the machine gun in his hand and prepared to fire. Robin stepped in front of him. He shielded the Harm Armory with his body.

The teenagers were stunned, Slade was being serious. They were going to die. Robin wasn’t just being uptight; he’d been right all along.

“If you kill them, then you’re going to have to kill me. I’m part of that “competition” remember?” Robin asked, standing between the Harm Armory and Slade. “If you want me to keep working for you, you’ll do me a few favors to keep me loyal, right? They’re just a bunch of nobodies, so it’s not like they can take your “big jobs”.” Robin said, staring him down.

“You teens need to learn gratitude, I’m sparing your lives on a whim,” Slade told them, lowering the gun. “Christoph, line something else up, and I don’t want to work with this “team” again, understand?”

“Come on, Robin, we should leave before I change my mind about honoring your request,” Slade turned on his heel and left.

Robin followed him.

“I understand, I got you another job, in Rhapastan, you’re being paid to kill a bunch of gangsters involved in the opium trade,” Christoph explained.

“How much is it?” Slade asked.

“A lot.”

“I’ll take it,” Slade said, walking away. Robin watched him leave. He would confirm his suspicions, and learn the truth about who “Slade” was.

* * *

_Rhapastan_

Robin stood at attention, waiting for Slade as he prepared to go out. He was on another mercenary job. He was killing members of the Wudesh after being paid to do so by the leader of the Rhaqquani, a man named Kirmani.

But John had another reason for being there. His name was John Wycliffe and he was a powerful member of the Court of Owls, they were trying to cut a deal with the female leader of the Rhaqquani to get in on the prosperous opium trade in the region.

“Oh, the wickedness of man is very great, for it surpasses the goodness of God,” Slade stared at the picture of Samantha Vanaver. He put it away and left the house where he was staying.

Slade glanced at another picture, that of John Wycliffe. Robin’s work had paid off. The man just happened to be in Rhapastan on behalf of the Court of Owls. He was using his wealth to whittle away at the country. Pitting the Rhaqquani and the Wudesh against each other until the Rhaqquani won. That was John Wycliffe’s bet.

Slade heard Robin approach him. Robin caught a glimpse of the photograph of Samantha Vananaver.

“I’m going to have my revenge against her. She’s a criminal and she deserves to die, that’s all you need to know,” Slade told him.

“If she’s such a threat, why not kill her? If she’s a criminal like you say it shouldn’t bother you,” Robin observed.

“Because I have patience, I tried to kill her once, a long time ago, I was too impatient and I paid for it,” Slade folded his arms behind his back. “The dark is generous and it is patient.”

Slade began to pace about the tent. “I’m not your typical villain that has to enact my plans right away. I’ve been planning this for almost a decade. So many of your supervillains are in such a rush to get revenge.” 

Slade looked at Robin, “I have run the gamut of emotions. I have feelings; I’m not some stoic sadist. It’s because a man loves with all his heart that he laughs and loves and hates.”

“If you say you have emotions, then you should also feel empathy,” Robin told him. “You should know I don’t want to be here.”

“I know, and your apprenticeship will be over soon. You just have a few more chores to do,” Slade told him.

“What now, more stealing?” Robin asked, crossing her arms. 

“No, guard duty, you watch over my locker and don’t let anyone open it. If you open it, everything goes boom. It will level this cemetery.”

Slade turned and left. He had work to do.

Blood flowed in the streets and songs and hymns turned to screams as Deathstroke destroyed the Wudesh. The Balkhan was also busy, carving up the Rhaqquani. 

Robin knew he couldn’t do anything to stop Slade. The threat to his friends’ lives was too much of a risk. By doing nothing, was he responsible for all these deaths? Was he sacrificing many to save a few?

Robin remained deep in thought until he saw Slade returning from his “work”.

Slade walked up to Robin as he stood guard over a locked locker. Robin had been on guard duty with Adi, a child soldier Slade had taken a strange liking to after the 12-year-old child soldier had tried to shoot him.

“He went easy on you, all he did was break your finger,” Robin looked at the child soldier.

“Yes, it could be worse, I could be dead,” Adi admitted.

“Tell me, Adi, why do you idolize him so much?” Robin asked.

“Slade is a god that came to Rhapastan, he and the mysterious mercenary the Balkan,” Adi said in an awed voice. “It is amazing that you work with him. I have heard stories about you.”

“They say in this country if you want to find God, go to Vakhar,” Robin looked in the general direction of the city of Vakhar.

“Vakhar means, “Throne of God” in your language. They never say which god, Robin,” Adi laughed. “Boss Deathstroke is a god.”

“He’s not someone worth idolizing, Adi. With all this money he’s paying you in rent, you should leave this country and start a new life somewhere,” Robin put a hand on his shoulder.

“A thousand dollars in American dollars a day in gold, just for him to rent my house,” Adi stared at the gold coin.

“Adi, how did you end up being a child soldier?” Robin asked.

“My parents were farmers in the south. They sold me to the Rhaqquani to pay a debt,” Adi explained.

“I’m sorry,” Robin told him sympathetically. The two stood guard over Slade’s locker, wondering what the mercenary was up to.

Slade had his own plans when it came to this country. He would grind Rhapastan to dust before the Court of Owls could get their hands on it. He had no doubt the Court wanted a cut of the country’s opium trade.

He intended to cut off a source of the Court’s wealth, even if it meant standing on a pile of dead corpses. 

Slade made his way through the capital city of Vakhar and killed the guards before they could react. He slipped into the house and made his way into John Wycliffe’s study.

The man was startled and reached for a gun, but Slade disarmed him and pointed his own weapon at him.

“It will be a pleasure. A truly great pleasure,” Slade grinned. “I have been waiting for this for years.”

Slade pointed the gun at him. “Get on your knees and pray, Wycliffe.”

The man did, but Slade noticed that no words came out of his mouth, he was far too afraid to give voice to any prayers to the mysterious Bat-God the Court was rumored to worship.

“Holy Father heartily am I sorry to have offended Thee and detest all my sins for Thy just and merciful punishment. But most of all, because they offend Thee my God above, Lord over all things, who deserveth my utmost. By Your grace oh God, I resovleth to sin no more and shun all things that do offend Thee. This I pray in abeyance to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

John Wycliffe was too terrified to say anything.

“Go on, John, pray!” Slade shouted.

“I’ll never kill again, I swear to you! I’ll leave the Court of Owls and cut ties to Samantha Vanaver!” John Wycliffe pleaded with him.

“I told you to pray!” Slade ordered.

“I don’t deserve to die like an animal!” John Wycliffe pleaded.

“Don’t you?” Slade asked, sarcastically. He shot the wealthy criminal in the head, then several more times just to make sure he was dead.

“In nomine patris, Et filii, Et spiritus sancti, amen,” Slade sighed. He turned and left. “May God have mercy on your soul.”

He left, Adi took him to meet with Kirami Raqquanni, and the man launched into his family’s origins and boasted about how he was going to crush the Wudesh.

He paid Slade a great deal of money to go kill the leader, Lady Wudeh's son, hoping to break her spirit.

Slade found his target, he was beating a woman, and it looked like he was progressing past just a beating when Slade decapitated him with his sword.

His mother, Lady Wudesh was raving to her own mercenary, a mystery man calling himself the Balkan.

“They took his head, Balkan. Now I can’t even bury him properly.”

“Certainly seems like something that deserves a response,” Balkan replied, holding his long spear in his arm. “If you recall, I advised your family to lie low until I could take out Kirmani himself. But now the Rhaqquanis have gone and found themselves a professional—that preening peacock Deathstroke. Like him, I am strictly an assassin. I don’t provide security and I don’t fight wars.”

Balkan opened a box full of his spears. “You give me targets and I eliminate them. Nothing more, nothing less. But Deathstroke himself, there’s not enough gold in all of Rhapastan to make that assignment pay off.”

“Forget their attack dog. Double your fee. Kirmani, his brothers, his cousins—anyone with a drop of Rhaqquani must die!” she said coldly.

* * *

Robin stood outside the tent. Adi came running over to where Slade sat. 

“I saw him. I saw the Balkan himself today!” Adi said excitedly.

“Oh yeah? He still running around with those giant toothpicks of his?” Slade asked. He was facing away from Adi, shaving his face.

Adi kicked a stack of wood, “He was incredible—like magic. Like when I saw you in the pass. Maybe better.”

“Could you teach me? Could you teach me to fight like that?” Adi asked.

“To be a hired killer? Sure. You still have that little pistol?” Slade replied.

“Y-yes,” Adi stuttered nervously.

“Shoot me,” Slade instructed. “Shoot me in the back, Adi. You can’t miss at this range.”

“But—But—” Adi stammered. He pointed the gun at Slade, holding it in both hands.

“Even the Balkan or myself can’t outrace a bullet. Think about it. The Wudesh would probably make you a general on the spot. So shoot.”

“I—” Adi hesitated.

“As long as you hesitate to take a life, any life, even for a second – be it mine, a stranger, or someone you love – you will never be like us.”

Adi lowered the gun and walked away.

* * *

The month dragged on and both Slade and the Balkan slew the inhabitants of Vakhar. The streets are filled with blood, spilled by both Deathstroke and the Balkan.

Slade met with Kirmani Rhaqquani. The man offered him opium as payment but he refused. Slade watched as a group of warriors known as the Stonecutters as they got high on a neurotoxin and ruthlessly executed their Wudesh captives when their bodies had gone rigid from exposure to the neurotoxin.

Slade’s mask filtered the toxins so they didn’t affect him as the Stonecutters executed their prisoners, decapitating them with ruthless efficiency.

“Impressive. But I still work alone,” Slade told Kirmani. 

“Of course, but my personal safety has become an issue with this Balkan fellow running loose. Think of them as defense. You are still my killer of choice.”

At the Khastan cemetery, Slade walked towards the tent where he was staying, Robin had gone into town to get food and supplies. 

“Adi, you still awake? I’m going to need that packhorse of yours to haul some—” Slade began, but he dropped to the ground when he heard the sound of a claymore mine’s detonator being set off.

Slade managed to dodge the explosion, rolling to his feet, sword in one hand, machine gun in the other. He caught the familiar scent of the Stonecutter’s neurotoxin in the air and he knew they were trying to incapacitate him with it.

Fortunately for him, his regenerative abilities as a Talon counteract the toxin. Unfortunately, it’s also slowed him down to the speed of a normal human. 

Slade opened fire on the Stonecutters and one of them knocked the gun from his hand. Slade used his sword to break his attacker’s blade.

One of the bigger men grabbed Slade’s utility belt and Slade was forced to throw his sword at one of the attackers in front of him, killing him when the sword went through his neck.

Slade blocked another assassin’s blade with his gauntlets as the man suddenly slumped over. Slade realized that someone had stabbed him in the back, also killing his attacker.

“You’re good old man, but your guns are empty and your blades are gone. You’re bleeding out,” the assassin told him as he pulled the blade out of John’s back. John screamed, it still hurt.

“Kirmani?” Slade asked.

“No, Kirmani did not send us. We saw an opportunity,” the assassin replied. He raised his sword high above his head. “Once dead, your contracts with the Rhaqquanni will fall to me.”

“A-Adi, don’t—” Slade tried to stop him.

“Who are you talking to old m—” the man started to ask.

Slade heard the sound of gunfire as Adi shot the man in the shoulder.

The man whirled around and saw the child soldier. “You little devil. I don’t need my dust to carve up little stone like you.”

The man prepared to cut down the child.

Slade drove a spear straight through his heart, killing him instantly.

Adi saw Slade standing next to a box full of giant spears and watched as the mercenary collapsed. 

Robin ran over to help him when he saw Slade collapse.

* * *

_Four Days Later…_

“Dick?” Slade called out to the darkness.

Slade sat up with a start.

“Dickie! NNN…No, Dickie?” Slade asked in a confused voice.

“No boss, it’s me—Adi,” Adi replied, he was holding up a bowl of food.

Adi turned away from him, “You’ve been calling me Dick the whole time you slept. You were asking him to come back to you, like he was running away. The same dream over and over.”

“He—he was just four. We were in the amusement park and he just kept running ahead of me,” Slade explained. “We took him for the kiddie rides but he ran into the spook house.”

“What is this spook house?” Adi asked, curious.

“A haunted house, you know, where ghosts live,” Slade told him, taking a bowl of food from Adi.

Robin was standing around the corner; he stared at Slade, stunned. The story was true. It had happened at Amusement Mile in Gotham City when he was a kid, during one of their annual performances. 

Robin felt the truth dawn on him about Slade’s true identity. 

“My son, he always wanted to be like his old man. But that was a long time ago. How long have I been out, Adi?” Slade asked.

“Four days,” Adi replied. “I—I almost buried you with the Stonecutters. I’m sorry, Boss. The killers must have followed me here.”

Slade busied himself going through his things.

“The locker you told me never to open had the Balkan’s gear in it all along. Those spears…you were the Balkan, waging war from both sides.”

Slade set the spear against the wall. “You have to prime the pump to get the water to flow.”

“It overflows now. Vakhar has been flooded. When you and the Balkan and the Stonecutters all disappeared, panic ran through the armies of both clans. Discipline broke down. Some deserted, Some broke off and formed their own gangs. They carved the city into little kingdoms, block by block. Even the terrorists have come down from the mountain to pick the corpse.”

“Then I’m almost done here,” John tossed Adi a duffle bag full of gold coins. “Here’s my back rent, plus a bonus for stitching me up. You got a family?”

“Farmers in the south,” Adi replied. “They sold me to the Rhaqquanni to pay a debt.” 

“There are no more Rhaqquanni for them to owe. Least there won’t be soon.”

Slade turned and looked at Adi. 

“Pack up and get out of here, Adi. There are better ways to earn a living, better men to follow,” Slade told him in a reassuring and paternal voice that surprised Robin. Robin was also surprised to hear the words that came out of Slade's mouth.

“Strange to hear that from you. With all you can do all your gifts. Everywhere you could go…you still run to where the ghosts live,” Adi told him.

Adi took Slade’s bag full of gold and left the tent.

Now Slade and Robin were alone. Robin walked into Slade’s sleeping area.

Slade had propped himself up on the makeshift bed in the tent where he slept.

Robin stopped, knelt beside Slade, and moved his hands towards the mask. He had no doubt that Slade knew his identity as Dick Grayson, and that he grew up in Haly’s Circus, but his childhood nickname “Dickie” wasn’t known to many people.

Robin reached up and unlatched the mechanisms that undid Slade’s mask. His eyes widened, but then again, Slade had called him “Dickie” and no one called him that, not since he was eight.

The nickname wasn’t something he should know unless he knew him.

None of his circus friends had any motive to become a villain that he knew of and Dick remembered seeing Slade’s hands once. They were physically imposing, was he someone from his past one of the roustabouts like Danny Poteet? Or was he a performer?

But then Dick recalled something Slade had said to the Harm Armory. “What do you think I am? A flying angel?”

It had been the name of his father’s solo act before he’d met his mother.

With one simple phrase, he’d given himself away, and Dick had been stunned to hear him say it.

There were also subtle clues. Slade never took his mask off in front of him. He never ate, and Dick had found some discarded, not fully eaten apples. 

It had been his father’s habit not to eat until full before a show. 

Dick also noticed that Slade had never wanted to spar with him. Perhaps he’d been afraid that Dick would recognize his acrobatics.

“Dad…” Robin said he didn’t have time to be horrified by the fact that Slade’s real identity was that of his biological father or that his father was alive. He needed answers, and yelling and screaming at him wouldn’t get him the answers he desperately needed.

Dick let the revelation of Slade’s true identity wash over him, and he accepted it, as much as he hated it.

“Giovanni,” Dick said this father’s name. Giovanni was his nickname but only his mother called him that.

“How like your mother you are,” John looked at him. “She’s the only one who called me that.”

He noted Dick was examining his face and noticed his missing eye.

“What happened to your left eye, dad?” Dick asked gently.

“Your Great-Grandfather happened. It was retaliation because I killed his masters, members of the Court of Owls,” John told him.

“So they’re real after all, is that how you came back?” Dick asked; this was all so sudden; he needed to process all of it.

“Yes, you could say they created me, the me that stands before you. The mercenary and assassin known to the world as Slade Wilson, Deathstroke the Terminator,” John told him.

John was surprised by the look of concern on Dick’s face. For the entire month, they’d been antagonistic towards each other. The revelation of his identity wasn’t going to change the state of their current relationship.

John was quite stunned as his son hugged him.

“This is what I’ve wanted from you for a long time, but I don’t have the right to ask for it,” John told him, wrapping his arms around him.

“Why are you doing all this, dad? Let me help you,” Dick told him, desperate.

“It’s too late for me, son. You can’t help me. Not in a way that will matter. This is the only life I can have. I am dead, and how do the dead live?” John asked.

John looked at Robin, “I want nothing more than to be a bayonet. A bayonet wielded by the hand of God.”

“I assumed Slade was irreligious,” Dick said.

“Slade is…a performance. He protects me. Deathstroke is a job. It’s not me. I’m a heck of a nice guy. I’m still the same nice guy that raised you.”

“You fooled me. I didn’t even suspect it was you until I found the half-eaten apples in the lair. I did think it was odd you wouldn’t spar with me, but that makes sense now.”

Robin looked at his father, “What’d you drag me all the way out here for?”

“I want to protect you; you don’t need to follow in my footsteps. I’m a killer, that’s something I never wanted for you.”

“And yet you spared Adi, you didn’t have to, he tried to shoot you,” Dick said. “All you did to punish him was breaking his finger.”

“To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue. What would Attila have been without his courage, or Shylock without self-denial as regards the flesh?” Slade asked, crossing his arms.

“C.S. Lewis,” Robin nodded. “That’s funny coming from you.”

“Your mother preferred J.R.R. Tolkien. My suffering is…complicated. I’m not like the people in Arkham Asylum, Dick, I’m _not_ crazy,” John told him.

“You are so contradictory. You don’t want Adi to be like you, but you made me your apprentice, Dad,” Robin gazed at him.

“Your apprenticeship is merely a ruse. I wanted to spend time with you, but you will never accept me as I am now. I wasn’t expecting you to figure out my identity in the first place. I never wanted you to be like me, or I’d make snide comments digging at you about how we’re so very much alike,” John told him. “I brought you with me to protect you from a very dangerous threat.”

“What is that?” Robin asked.

“The Court of Owls. They made my life Hell. My present happiness equals my past misery,” John looked at Dick.

“Dad, you need help, tell me what happened. You promised you’d tell me everything,” Dick held his shoulders earnestly.

“When you were ready, and you’re not ready. Not yet,” Slade looked at him. “I’ve healed up. I’m going back to work. Wait for me.”

Robin didn’t say anything as his father left the room.

* * *

Slade finished his preparations and headed to the headquarters of the Rhaqquanni leader.

The leader looked at him as he entered the room. She had been expecting him.

She put her hand on her head, “So you have come at last. I would call my servants to bring tea, but I suspect you’ve already killed them. As you will me.”

“You will die today, Lady Wudesh, but first things first. I’m here to give you a gift.” Slade slit a small box across her desk.

“Compliments of Miriam Alvi. She ran a school in the northern provinces. She taught children the skills that would allow them to make a life outside your opium trade.”

Slade unsheathed the sword on his back. “She sheltered refugees from the little wars you and the Rhaqquanni waged to keep Rhapastan in chaos….until your men killed her and burned down her school to the ground.”

Slade continued, “Miriam Alvi was a good person. Her father is not. He is a vengeful man…and _very_ rich.”

“He hired you to kill me? Is that what this mad scheme is about?” Lady Wudesh asked, she removed the ribbon, unwrapping Slade’s “gift”.

Slade pointed his finger at her, “Not just you, but your family, your future. The Rhaqquanni as well.”

Slade crossed his arms, “I was hired to kill your country.”

“And this?” Lady Wudesh asked.

Slade crossed his arms, “A radio detonator. I’ve spent the last month not only picking off members of each clan, but wiring both compounds for demolition.” 

“Both compounds?” Lady Wudesh asked.

“I’m betting your hatred is stronger than your will to live, Lady Wudesh. In death, you will know that you have taken the last Rhaqquanni with you—to the last man.”

John didn’t hear as Kirmani came up behind him and threw his heavy chain around his neck.

“Not if that last man is Kirmani!” Kirmani shouted.

Slade let out a noise as Kirmani tried to strangle him to death.

Lady Wudesh stood to her feet, “We’re not fools assassin! When you and the Balkan disappeared at the same time, we began to piece your scheme together. Our armies have fled, but our will remains.”

Slade knows her spite is as strong as Kirmani’s chains. But this isn’t how he’s going to die. 

Lady Wudesh gestures to Kirmani. “Together we can rebuild an empire. Even though we are bound by hate, we are still bound.”

Slade removed another radio detonator from his pocket. “Come on. You really thought I brought only one of these?”

Slade pushed the button on his own radio detonator and the compound and the rest of Vakhar erupted in a ball of fire as Slade triggered the massive explosion that left the capital city in ruins.

Both Lady Wudesh and Kirmani died in the explosion.

Slade got to his feet, throwing off the chain wrapped around his neck.

Pushing away a piece of wood, Slade got to his feet and headed out.

A few hours later, Slade came back to Robin.

“So you killed both sides and destroyed an entire country, just because someone paid you to,” Robin looked at him. “And yet in San Miguel, they hail you as a hero.”

“I’m a mercenary, not a knight, at the end of the day I don’t eat glory,” Slade told him.

Slade instructed Robin to gather his things and Slade got on a motorcycle. Robin followed him on one his father had provided for him.

“It’s time to go, Robin,” Slade said as they began driving out of the country, Slade’s plane was stashed away where it wouldn’t be noticed.

“Adi?” Slade called as he saw the boy heading back to Vakhar, carrying the bag full of cash and a giant spear. Adi didn’t say anything to him.

Slade stopped as he received a phone call. “Yeah?”

“This is Alavi. I saw the footage out of Vakhar on the news channel. Your handiwork I assume. Is my daughter Miriam finally avenged? Tell me you got them. Tell me you killed the monsters.”

“Yeah,” Slade replied. “All but one.”

Slade and Robin boarded the airplane and Slade set the autopilot.

“Where are we going now?” Robin asked, his voice held no emotion.

“To Gotham City,” John replied.

“Huh?” Robin was surprised.

“I want to show you the truth about our family,” John said quietly.

“What about our family?” Robin glanced at him.

“The reason I’ve done what I’ve done, my motives, they’re all for you, do you want me to show you why?” John asked.

Robin took a deep breath, “Yes.”

“Good, I’m going to show you something even Pop Haly hasn’t shown you,” John glanced at him.

“What’s that?” Robin pressed him.

“What you were bred for,” John replied.

John could tell from his son’s expression that he didn’t like the wording of what he’d said.

“Not my choice of phrase, you’re here because I loved your mother, and we wanted you here,” Slade ruffled his son’s hair.

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned Mom,” Robin glanced out the window. “I’m surprised you’re not in a relationship with that woman Angelica.”

“Your mother’s death does free me from my wedding vows, but I don’t want to get attached to anyone else. Besides, I’m sterile, even if I wanted something out of it, I couldn’t get anything. Nothing emotional, nothing physical, nothing. It’s all a distraction, and I can’t afford it.”

Robin was stunned, “But Mom had me…”

“It happened after you were born,” John nodded.

“What about Rachel? Is she your daughter?” Robin asked.

“Yes, but she’s not your mother’s, as much as I wish she was,” John sighed.

“What was it? You get drunk or did she seduce you?” Robin stared at him.

“Let’s just say, I didn’t have a choice in the matter, and that Samatha Vanaver didn’t care that I refused. I wouldn’t cheat on your mother, as awful as I am now, I still love her.”

“I see, do you want to talk about it?” Robin knew exactly what had happened, even if his father didn’t voice it.

“No, it’s not worth talking about, so now you understand why I want her dead.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Robin reminded him.

“I know, but it’ll make me feel better,” John told him.

“I’m not going to let you kill her,” Robin warned him.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” John said, turning away from him.


End file.
